Much-awaited Karachi Circular Railway fails to deliver on expectations as the test run takes hours to cover a partial 14km track.
A KCR train comprising four bogies and two locomotives travelled the approved track from Karachi’s City Railway Station to Orangi Town in two hours whereas it was supposed to be covered in minutes, according to official sources.
Sources added it took much longer than usual because of dilapidated tracks.
While railways ministry announced to run the first train from November 16, there has, however, been not a single station in workable condition and the platforms and ticket offices, too are hardly operational.
It was just in the previous month the Pakistan Railways announced partial restoration of KCR from January next year.
According to Pakistan Railways, the project would commence in three phases. The length of the KCR project was 43.13km, including 14.95km on the ground and 28.18km elevated.
It is planned to have 24 stations and its per-day ridership is estimated at around 550,000.
