President asks railways minister to ink KCR revival deal in China

Pakistan President Dr Arif Alvi has asked Federal Railways Minister Sheikh Rasheed Ahmed to ink the deal to materialise the long-pending plan to revive the Karachi Circular Railway (KCR) project with Chinese assistance during his upcoming visit to China with Prime Minister Imran Khan.

The president gave this direction on Wednesday afternoon while addressing a ceremony at Karachi’s Cantonment Railway Station, where he launched the new Karachi-Dhabeji rail shuttle service.

The railways minister, who was present at the ceremony along with senior railways officials, will accompany the premier on his tour of China that starts on Thursday (today). “As you are now going to China, it is important to note that several important railway projects are part of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC),” Dr Alvi told Sheikh Rasheed.

“It would be wonderful if you are able to get the deal done in China to revive the KCR project, as it will serve as the backbone of Karachi from the point of view of connectivity.” The president said the KCR’s revival as part of CPEC is a much easier task for the railways minister, as the railway track and land are already available for the project.

He said rail-based projects serve as the basic mass transit system in cities all over the world, adding that cities like Karachi always prefer rail-based systems to buses to meet their mass transportation needs.

Dr Alvi recalled that transportation within Karachi was pointed out as one of the major civic issues of the city when the PM was visiting here in September after becoming the premier. “Transport is a really big issue here as the population has been increasing and the space of the roads keeps shrinking. Local trains used to operate here in the past, but that service came to a halt. The arteries of the city got choked with time.”

He said he used to study at a school near the Cantt Railway Station, where the historical tram service of the city used to run, but it was also shut down. He urged the industrialists operating in the vicinity of Dhabeji to market the new shuttle service to make it popular among their workers so they start using it instead of buses.

The president appreciated the announcement of the railways minister to reduce the maximum fare of Rs80 by Rs10 for the new railway shuttle service. Dr Alvi said that once the workers start using the train daily, the service would profit the Pakistan Railways even with the reduced fare.

“But to make this service popular, it is important to make it very punctual so that labourers start relying on its service for their daily commute after abandoning the bus service.” He urged the railways minister to involve the private sector in the train’s operations. However, he said, clean governance is compulsory in the railways for that purpose.

He pointed out that during his latest visit to Turkey, he had witnessed similar involvement of the private sector in lending support to the Turkish government for such civic projects. The president said that 50 to 60 per cent of the transportation of goods within the country should be carried out through the railway system to revive it.

He said the government is under a solemn obligation to build and open routes for the transportation of people and goods all over the country, adding that the revival and expansion of the railway system is one viable way of doing it.

“This nation needs change, and it can bring about the change on its own, as all it needs is a strong will, and we have to provide this will for the purpose.”

Earlier, Sheikh Rasheed had announced that Karachi-Dhabeji rail shuttle service would commence its operations today, and that the people would be able to use this service for free on the first day.

He expressed his resolve to overcome the financial loss being incurred in the operation of the railway service in the country within a year. He also announced his plan to launch 15 new freight-based rail services within a year. He said road networks are currently being used for the transportation of 80 to 90 per cent freight in the country, but this trend needs to be reversed for the revival of the railways.

The minister said a railway system would be built in Gwadar to make it the eighth divisional-level railway station in the country, keeping in view the importance of the port town of Balochistan in the CPEC project. He also announced launching shuttle railway services between Karachi and Hyderabad and between Karachi and Sukkur after the success of the Karachi-Dhabeji service.