KARACHI, Nov 16: The government has started removing encroachments from the tracks of the Karachi Circular Railway after the decision of the task force to revive the KCR operation by January, sources in the government said here on Tuesday.
The Sindh government had prepared an action plan for reviving the KCR service by January. The plan would be submitted at a meeting in Islamabad on Friday.
The plan is being submitted in pursuance of a decision taken at a meeting held on October 28.
The Minister of State for Railways, Ishaq Khakwani, Sindh Minister for Transport Adil Siddiqui and the EDO of Transport of the Karachi City government are the members of the task force formed by Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz with directives to revive the KCR operation as soon as possible.
The sources said that the task force was likely to submit its report to the prime minister for approval of funds to ensure the revival of the operation in the stipulated period.
They said that those who had encroached upon the land along the KCR tracks were being served with notices.
The sources said that there were 14 stations of the KCR which would be given to private entrepreneurs to establish and run them on build-operate-transfer (BOT) basis.
The government is likely to start repairing 22 level crossings across the city within a fortnight.
Similarly, the Pakistan Railways had been asked to provide all technical assistance to the Sindh and City governments for launching and running the KCR operation, the sources added.
A meeting presided over by State Minister for Railway Ishaq Khakwani on October 28 had decided to revive the KCR service from January 2005. It was also decided that the federal government would bear 60 per cent of the expenses while the Sindh government the remaining 40 per cent.
The meeting was told that 14 stations in the network of the circular railway were closed down when the operation was suspended on December 15, 1999, while at present there were 22 level crossings of those 14 which were located at busy roads.
A suggestion for constructing 14 underpasses in the city was also mooted.
The state minister had directed the railway officials to provide technical support to the Sindh government and extend its full cooperation. He had ordered the divisional superintendent of the Railway to prepare a time-frame for the main line of the circular railway from City Station to Landhi.
However, the sources said the Sindh government had already spent more than Rs3 billion to build flyovers at the railway level-crossings in the city for an uninterrupted flow of circular trains.
Referring to the failure of the KCR service, source said that non-extension of KCR tracks in the past, lack of resource planning and commitment, irregular service and lack of integration in road transport were some of the causes the KCR service failed, which was planned way back in 1952.
During its peak performance, 104 trains operated daily with the sale of six million tickets a year.
The operation was suspended on December 15, 1999 upon the refusal of the Pakistan Railways to operate the service anymore due to the recurring losses.
Statistics shows that 1,100 buses ply the M. A. Jinnah Road during rush hour every day. This volume is likely to double in 10 years and triple in 15 years.
The travel time will also increase from 30 minutes to 1.5 hours per trip. At present 5,646 buses are running in the city which needs another 11,254 buses to cope with the commuters' load.
As the population grows, the requirement for the buses will surge to 17,000 - a spectre that would contribute to the environment and noise pollution - if the KCR service is not launched without any delay.