BEIJING, Feb 18: China has agreed to help revitalize the Karachi Circular Railway (KCR) and China National Machinery Import and Export Corporation will send a team on Feb 25 to study the plan, Sindh Planning and Development Minister Syed Shoaib Ahmed Bukhari said during his stay here.

In an interview with APP, Mr Bukhari said the delegation led by Railways Minister Ghous Bukhsh Mahar had held useful talks with the officials of the corporation. Sindh Transport Minister Adil Siddique was also present.

The company, Mr Bukhari said, had agreed in principle to extend financial and technical help for the development of the railway network.

He expressed the hope that a memorandum of understanding would be signed for the plan during the expected visit of Prime Minister Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali to China in next March.

The company, he said, would soon complete the initial study of the project to decide its viability and cost.

The railways ministry and the provincial government would work together for carrying out the project. The length of the KCR after its extension would be about 58km.

The minister said a master plan for the revival of the KCR had been prepared. The plan includes improvements of level crossings, tracks and approach roads to stations and effective bus-rail integration.

The plan will be implemented in three phases. Phase-1 consists of the rehabilitation of the KCR, including the doubling of tracks between Cantt Station and Landhi. The cost of the phase is estimated to be between Rs10 billion and Rs15 billion.

It envisages the shifting of railway stations to under flyovers and bridges at the intersections of major roads connected with the Circular Railway.

According to Karachi Mass Transit Cell’s director-general, Malik Zaheerul Islam, the phase also includes plying of commuter buses along the Shahrah-i-Sher Shah from Nagan Chowrangi to the Nazimabad Station; from Orangi Town to the Orangi Town Station; and from Cantt Station and Jinnah Bridge to Saddar.

Besides the dualizaton of the existing 30km KCR track, rail connection to Nazimabad and North Karachi would be established during the phase.—APP