The Karachi Circular Railway (KCR) restoration is expected to cost around Rs 1.8 billion, upon completion the project will cater 16,000 passengers daily, says Pakistan Railways (PR).
KCR will comprise of 32 passenger trains that will be operational on daily basis and the distance from the first station to the last will be covered in around roughly 30 minutes, said a PR official.
The project will include a 14 kilometres long main track, along with a 30 kilometres loop. It will comprise of 20 stations of which five are located on the mainline, whereas the rest 15 are situated on the loop.
A total of 24 level crossings will be constructed on the entire track.
Furthermore, KCR restoration will be executed in phases. The first phase will include the restoration of 14 kilometres of track from Karachi City to Orang, in the second phase 7 kilometres track from Orangi Station to Gilani Station will be restored, while in the third and final phase nine kilometres from Gilani Station to Drug Colony track would be completely restored.
Meanwhile a total of 10 locomotives along with 40 coaches have already been sent for due repairs in-order to be made operational for KCR.
Repair and restoration work on Karachi City-Orangi station is already underway, whereas the restoration work on the 12-kilometres track from Karachi City to Manghopir has been completed.
KCR is expected to be expanded with the numbers of coaches to be increased from 32 to 48, further increasing its capacity from 16,000 passengers to 24,000 passengers.
