KARACHI, May 29: The Pakistan Railways have extended the local train service to the Karachi Circular Railway loop up to Wazir Mansion station without renovating the said station and which is without facilities. Sources in the railways said the local train service had been extended to the Wazir Mansion station in haste without carrying out adequate work for its improvement. The staff at the station was insufficient and was forced to work in two shifts of 12 hours each.

A visit to the station showed that the intending passengers did not have an easy access to the station. The station being 10 to 15 ft below road-level had no proper stairs to facilitate people, and neither did the railways authorities bother to construct them.

The condition of the station is poor and the platform has not been upgraded. The benches are in dilapidated condition, while there is no arrangement for drinking water. Similarly, a room on the platform built many years ago is supposed to be a bathroom or lavatory.

There is no electricity at the station and the staff has been forced to work in their offices in the sizzling heat without fans.

The signal system, which broke due to suspension of service six years ago, has also not been established. Trains are being operated with a manual signal system.

Sources in the railway authorities said all 14 stations of the KCR would be given to private entrepreneurs to get them renovated and maintained on build-operate-transfer (BOT) bases.

It was also according to plans that all KCR stations would be integrated with the road network, and parking lots would be developed adjacent to the stations so that intending passengers could park their vehicles.

However, the Wazir Mansion railway station, the first on the KCR loop, is away from the mainline, and railways authorities have not integrated it with the road running parallel to the station.

There is an adequate space adjacent to the station, which is being used for storage of tree logs. Official sources said the said space was the property of the railways and had been leased out to a private party for revenue generation.

Sources also said the space could be used for a parking lot and integrated with the main road.

They added that the railways authorities had ordered the railways officials to clean the station so it could be used for the KCR.

However, the railways or the provincial and city governments had not carried out any improvement work at the station for the facilitation of passengers, which could not only hamper the KCR’s performance but could also lead to its failure.