• Members of Senate body travel on part of track from City Station to Wazir Mansion
• Some parts of the old track, if revived, might cause traffic blockades in Karachi, says one lawmaker

KARACHI: The Senate Standing Committee on Railways during its second day’s session at the Pakistan Railways Divisional Superintendent’s Office on Tuesday pushed for the timely completion of the Karachi Circular Railway (KCR).

The committee members also travelled on a part of the track from the City Railway Station to Wazir Mansion to get an idea of the situation.

While speaking to the media about their little trip, and their meeting earlier, Chairman of the Standing Committee Jam Saifullah Khan said that the KCR is an old project which everyone has been hearing about for years now. “We wanted to look into its progress and also how we can help in expediting things,” he said.

“The Sindh Mass Transit Authority also briefed us on the KCR; we held a meeting with Pakistan Railways also on this matter besides visiting the KCR track ourselves today,” Jam Saifullah Khan shared. “But I regret to inform you that there are many bottlenecks in the KCR which are hindering its progress,” he added.

“On our part, we have firmly advised both the Sindh Mass Transit Authority and the Pakistan Railways to expedite things. The chief minister of Sindh is already willing to take up the responsibility to make the KCR operational. But there are certain things regarding the KCR, which we believe also need to be discussed and resolved between the CM Sindh and the prime minister of Pakistan,” he said.

While elaborating on some coming in the way of the KCR’s completion, the chairman of the Standing Committee on Railways said that the issues included land matters such as transfer of railways land to the Sindh government.

“There are some hitches there,” he said. It was also mentioned that they have requested Pakistan Railways to be reasonable about the price of land to the Sindh government.

“Earlier, the project was going to be linked with CPEC as the Chinese government was interested in taking it up but the law and order situation and security issues because of the insurgency in Balochistan came in the way of that. Still, things are improving there and we are speaking to the Chinese government about it again.

“I also want to say to the people of Karachi to have faith regarding the KCR. The Mass Transit Authority and the Pakistan Railways have also provided me assurance that all issues will be resolved. We will try to resume all ground work for KCR by next year. We understand that mass transport is a genuine issue in this city of about 25 million people. Our coming here ourselves was to expedite all areas showing slow progress as we want to resolve the issues of the people as well as take action wherever we see any negligence. We want to facilitate the people of Karachi,” he said.

As far as encroachment of railways land is concerned, especially around the KCR tracks, the chairman of the committee said that it has been resolved, more or less. “We didn’t find much encroachment on or around the tracks hindering KCR’s right of way.

It was also said that the feasibility for running of KCR amounts to around two billion dollars. “But we have suggested to the Sindh Mass Transit Authority to see if this amount is not too much,” he said, adding that all that the Standing Committee wants is for the project to move ahead and be completed.

“If the Chinese are no longer interested in the KCR, we also have the Asian Development Bank as our other option,” Jam Saifullah Khan pointed out.

Replying to a question about what happened to the KCR which was already running partially, it was explained that earlier the original KCR track was restored partially. “But that track is not going to cater to the entire city, which has grown along with a far bigger population,” he pointed out. “Some parts of the old track, if revived, might also cause traffic blockades now,” he added.

Senator Nasir Mahmood Butt, one of the committee members, also said that the reason behind their coming to Karachi was to personally see if there are any issues which they can help in resolving. “Such standing committees are formed for this purpose. We are here to facilitate the Sindh government in whatever way that we can,” he said. “The KCR is now a Sindh government project and the railways is with the Sindh government for the same reason. We are also with both of them,” he said. “If there are any misunderstandings as regards land transfer we are here to clear matters between them also,” he said.

The other committee members included Senators Asad Qasim, Dost Ali Jessar, Dost Muhammad Khan and Ashraf Ali Jatoi.

Pakistan Railways secretary and chairman Syed Mazhar Ali Shah, CEO Amir Ali Baloch and other senior officers also attended the meeting.

Published in Dawn, August 6th, 2025