Railways Minister Sheikh Rasheed Ahmed inaugurated much-awaited Karachi Circular Railway (KCR) on Thursday. The service resumed operations after an interval of two decades, reported 24NewsHD TV channel.
Sheikh Rasheed inaugurated the KCR and travelled on the train also. The TV channel reported Railways Minister inaugurated “incomplete” track of KCR and reduced the number of trains from eight to four.
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Addressing a news conference in Karachi, Sheikh Rasheed also announced reducing the KCR fare from Rs50 to Rs30. The minister also announced to start Mehran Express service that will operate between Karachi to Mirpurkhas.
He said labourers and other people can get Karachi Circular Railway monthly pass for Rs750. He said after 15 days the KCR track will be expanded to 14 kilometres. “We will complete our work with the passage of time and in accordance with the completion of work on time by the Sindh government, '' he added.
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The minister said the encroachment mafia has engulfed large-sized pieces of PR land in Karachi in the last 25 years and Pakistan Railways is not getting the political support to retrieve the encroached land.
Commenting on the recently held Gilgit Baltistan 2020 general elections, Sheikh Rasheed said GB elections were conducted in the most transparent manner. While talking about proposed Senate elections reforms by Prime Minister Imran Khan that polling would be held with show of hands instead of secret balloting, the Railways Minister lauded the proposed amendment.
It is pertinent to note that KCR has two locomotives and 11 coaches — each having the capacity to transport 100 passengers, 64 on seats and 36 standing — all the way from the Pipri station to the Orangi station, nearly 60 kilometres distance.
Four trains in two directions will commute the passengers between Pipri and Orangi stations with a uniform gap of three hours. At 7am on November 19, the first train departed from the Orangi station, followed by subsequent departures at 10am, 1pm, and 4pm.
Earlier, the Pakistan Railways had announced that the Karachi Circular Railway's operations would resume from November 16.
Sheikh Rasheed over the moon launching KCR
Visibly happy Federal Railways Minister talking exclusively to 24NewsHD TV channel requested the people of Karachi to cooperate with Pakistan Railways as the much-awaited Karachi Circular Railway has hit the tracks.
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Sheikh Rasheed talking from inside the train said: “People can travel on KCR free of cost on the first two days of launching and the one-way travel ticket would be Rs 30.”
The minister said that travelling passes would be available for Rs750 labourers and other people.
The Karachi Circular Railway (KCR) started partial operations on a 14km stretch of the around 55km route of the old KCR.
In the first phase, trains would run along the Karachi City-Orangi-Karachi City route while operations on the remaining tracks would be launched later.