ISLAMABAD: Minister for Pakistan Railways Sheikh Rasheed Ahmed Thursday inaugurated the Karachi Circular Railway (KCR) at city station Karachi.

Addressing the inauguration ceremony, Sheikh Rasheed Ahmed said that all the credit to operationalize KCR goes to the government of Prime Minister Imran Khan.

He announced that the fare of KCR will be 30 rupees per route and in the first phase four trains will be operated daily from Pipri to city station Karachi.

“One-side fare of the KCR has been reduced to Rs 30 instead of Rs 50 and monthly pass costs Rs 750. In the first phase, four trains will be operated daily from Pipri to city station Karachi and will be extended to other parts of the city as work is in progress,” he said.

Sheikh Rasheed has said that the credit for the KCR goes to Prime Minister Imran Khan and Chief Justice of Pakistan. An amount of 1.8 billion rupees has been earmarked for the KCR and so far 17 million rupees have been spent. Each coach of the KCR has been prepared at a cost of Rs 0.9 million.

“There is a big land occupation mafia in Karachi which has occupied Railways’ lands. The Sindh government will try to remove encroachments. Trains remain in good condition if they keep running. People even steal parts of trains if the operation is halted,” he said.

“Wonderful elections were held in Gilgit-Baltistan and the opposition should now worry about the Azad Kashmir polls. No one in the world is accepting defeat in democracy nowadays and the sanctity of vote is in danger due to these people,” he said.

Earlier, Pakistan Railways had announced the train schedule for KCR. According to which the trains have stopovers at Manghopir, SITE, Shah Abdul Latif, Baldia, Lyari, Wazir Mansion, Karachi City Station, Karachi Cantt Station, Departure Yard, Drigh Road, Drigh Colony, Airport, Malir Colony, Malir, Landhi, Jumma Goth, Bin Qasim and Baldia Nullah before reaching Marshalling Yard Pipri railway station.

For the down track, the local train will depart from Marshalling Yard railway station, covering the same stops to reach Orangi railway station.

The Karachi Circular Railway (KCR) project is 12.63 kilometres at grade (on the ground), and 30.75 kilometres elevated with 24 railway stations out of which 14 will be elevated. The average distance between each station will be 1.8 kilometres. NNI