KCR train service to start again on Nov 16

The Karachi Circular Railway train service will resume from November 16, the Pakistan Railways announced on Tuesday.

According to a press release, eight up and down passenger trains will run daily, for which the maximum fare will be Rs50.

Railway officials said that in pursuance of orders by the Supreme Court, Pakistan Railways is seeing to the phase-wise restoration of the Circular Railway.

In the first phase, beginning Monday, November 16, trains from Pipri station will pass through Landhi, Malir, Drigh Road, Cantt, City, Kemari, Wazir Mansion, Lyari, Gulbai, Site, Shah Abdul Latif and Orangi stations.

Four trains of five bogeys each will run daily between Pipri and Orangi simultaneously at 7 am, 10 am, 1 pm and 4 pm.

The distance between both stations is 60 kilometres.

For the restoration of KCR, Pakistan Railways has renovated 15 bogies located in Islamabad, which are likely to reach Karachi in 2 to 3 days.

SC issues show-cause notices over failure to clear KCR track

Earlier in the day, the Supreme Court issued show-cause notices to the Sindh chief secretary (CS) and Secretary Railway over the government's failure to ensure the removal of encroachments from the KCR track.

The court ordered the Chief Secretary, the Secretary Railway and DG FWO to appear before the court on the next date of hearing.

A three-member bench of the court headed by Chief Justice Gulzar Ahmed and comprising Justice Ijaz Ul Ahsan and Justice Munib Akhtar heard the case regarding colossal losses incurred by Pakistan Railway.

During the course of proceedings, the chief justice asked Secretary Railways and the Chief Secretary Sindh to inform the court why the KCR project had not yet been activated.

The Railways lawyer said that they have asked Pakistan Space and Upper Atmosphere Research Commission (Suparco) for satellite pictures of the track.

The government would remove all the encroachments soon, he said.

The chief justice then asked why the order of the Supreme Court regarding the activation of KCR was not implemented. He directed the government to clear the track and run the trains.

Justice Ijaz Ul Ahsan said that only departmental correspondence was done but the order of the Supreme Court was not implemented.

"If things stay the same then the court would be stuck doing the same thing for the next five years too," he added.

Later, the hearing of the case was adjourned for two weeks.