Karachi Circular Railway

rdf:langString Karachi Circular Railway

rdf:langString Karachi Circular Railway

rdf:langString Karachi Circular Railway

rdf:langString Karachi Circular Railway (abbreviated as KCR) (Urdu: کراچی سرکلر ریلوے, Sindhi: ڪراچي سرڪيولر ريلوي is a partially active regional public transit system in Karachi, Sindh, Pakistan, which serves the Karachi metropolitan area. KCR was fully operational between 1964 to 1994, until it was abruptly shutdown in 1999. Since 2001, several restart attempts were sought and in November 2020, the KCR partially revived operations on the orders of Supreme Court of Pakistan. With its hub at Karachi City station on I. I. Chundrigar Road, KCR's revived operations would extend north to Gadap, east to Dhabeji, south to Kiamari and west to Hub in Balochistan. The revived KCR operation is intended to become an inter-regional public transit system in Karachi, with an aim to connect the city centre with several industrial and commercial districts within the city and the outlying localities. Revival efforts of KCR had been proposed several times since becoming defunct in 1999 and remained unfulfilled mainly due to lack of financial and political backing. In May 2017, the federal government approved a Rs. 27.9 billion (US$120 million) restoration package for the KCR, however delays and disputes with the Sindh provincial government ultimately led to the cancellation of the funding. In August 2020, the federal government approved a Rs. 10.5 billion (US$46 million) rehabilitation package for the KCR restoration. The funding is slated to cover only phase one and phase two of KCR's restoration project, similar to the restoration of the Karachi-Peshawar Railway Line, according to Ameer Muhammad Daudpota.