Senate committee recommends linking KCR with Jinnah International Airport

KARACHI: Senate’s Standing Committee on Pakistan Railways Chairman Muhammad Qasim presided a meeting Tuesday at City Station in the port city.

The Committee recommended linking the Karachi Circular Railway (KCR) with Jinnah International Airport so that passengers coming from abroad and within the country could also be benefited. With the completion of the Circular Railway project, the Standing Committee said the people of Karachi will benefit the most.

Senator Rana Muhammad Asad Ali Khan Junejo, senator Rana Mehmoodul Hasan, senator Saifullah Sarwar Khan Niazi, senator Dost Muhammad Khan and other top officials of the Pakistan Railways attended the meeting including Pakistan Railways CEO Nisar Ahmed Memon, DG property and land of Railways Amjad Iqbal, DS Karachi, Hanif Gul, DS Sukkur, Shoaib Adil and KCR’s Project Director Ameer Mehmood Daudpota.

The Railway officials briefed the Standing Committee regarding encroachment on Pakistan Railway’s land in Sindh and the measures the Railway officials have taken to get their land vacated.

In three-year tenure of the government, the Railway officials said they got vacated some 152.8 acres in Sukkur Division.

They also briefed regarding regularisation of 10 sub-engineers in Balochistan. Qasim said Karachi is a very important city of Pakistan which has grave traffic issues. With the revival of KCR project, he said people of Karachi will have a decent mode of transportation.

The Committee was briefed that the Circular Railway is Rs207 billion project and as per their initial estimates daily 475,000 passengers will be facilitated. In a span of 10 years some 1.1 million passengers will benefit from it.

The KCR will have electric trains and each train will have the capacity of not less than 814 passengers. The Circular Railways will also be linked with six different Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) corridors in the city.