KCR revival

The much-awaited resumption of the Karachi Circular Railway has caused more disappointment than excitement and delight. The KCR services were restarted — albeit only partially — last Thursday after a long hiatus of 21 years even though the railway minister had earlier announced that local trains would resume running along the entire 44-km length of the tracks. The minister seemed to be overly happy about his achievement with regard to the KCR revival at the inauguration ceremony, but hardly anyone is going to take part for the whole, least of all those who have to suffer a lot on a daily basis in the biggest city of the country while commuting between home and the workplace.

Now only four trains will run from Karachi City station to Pipri in 24 hours covering a distance of 14 kilometres — which means a train after every six hours. This is contrary to the basic concept of local trains. Such trains are available for destinations within a city every few minutes. The minister waxed eloquent in his speech but that was only self-congratulatory. The KCR trains, though shiny and ship-shape, are not going to solve the transport problem of the citizens of Karachi. Politicians and the common people have described the latest KCR revival as mere lollipop, and they are right when they say the city needs an efficient system of mass transit, not a showpiece.

The so-called revival has come under fire from railway experts as well. In his speech, the minister even dabbled in technical matters — though a stranger to the technical aspects of railways — when he said that the trains would travel at a speed of 60km an hour, which experts described as impracticable. The trains will fail to serve their purpose in the absence of feeder buses. In the recent past too, the KCR had been revived with one train travelling between City and Pipri stations. This was, however, abruptly discontinued after less than a year on the pretext that it was causing losses to the railways.

So for now, this is all what’s available as Karachi’s answer to Lahore’s Orange Train.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 22^nd, 2020.

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