Staff Reporter The railway ministry has expedited monitoring of railway tracks following the strict orders released by the Supreme Court (SC) for making Karachi Circular Railway (KCR) operational within three months. A four-member team comprising members of Pakistan Railways have visited a KCR track in Karachi’s North Nazimabad area. Sources said the officials found the track between City Station and Shah Latif railway station in useable for railway operations. However, they witnessed various tracks vanished on the routes between Shah Latif railway station and North Nazimabad area, whereas, all local stations from Wazir Mansion to North Nazimabad in deplorable condition. The signaling system is completely destructed with non-availability of electricity and communication mechanism, whereas, the inspection team faced trouble to trace out the remaining tracks due to the construction of roads on various spots for Green Line project. The sources added that gates installed at all railway crossings are also vanished or exist in unusable condition. The four-member team will present its inspection report to higher officials of the railway ministry this week, sources said. Earlier in the day, the top court ordered to make Karachi Circular Railway (KCR) operational within three months. A three-member bench of the Supreme Court headed by Chief Justice Gulzar Ahmed, Justice Ijaz-ul-Ahsan and Justice Sajjad Ali Shah heard the Railways department losses case. Minister for Planning, Development and Special Initiatives Asad Umar and Minister for Railways Sheikh Rasheed Ahmed appeared before the court. It is to mention here the Sindh transport minister had directed the officials concerned to arrange for a survey of the Karachi Circular Railway route for a visiting Chinese team and provide its members with relevant data. He told the team that the KCR was one of the major projects of the city that would resolve the transport issue of the metropolis to a great extent. He said as the KCR had also been included in the CPEC projects, the government would like to take advantage of the Chinese expertise in the implementation of the project.
