Orange Line Central Station will be Asia's largest Intra-city Metro underground station

Lord Mayor of Lahore Colonel (retd) Mubashir Javed visited GPO chowk, Mall road on 3rd January to examine the construction going on of Orange line metro train.

Orange line metro train track length is 27.12 km out of which 25.4 km is elevated while remaining 1.72 will be made underground by making cut and cover.

Supreme Court had put stay order against construction within 200 ft of 11 different historical sites given the reservations of civil societies some 22 months ago. But since the stay order has been lifted, work on all these sites including GPO chowk has started with full swing.

One of the two underground stations, Central station will also be built at GPO chowk which is the most critical part of the project since it is situated at one of the busiest places of Lahore, the heart of city and downtown, Mall road. While talking to media, Colonel (retd) Mubashir Javed revealed that Central station will be Asia's largest Intra-city Metro underground station covering a huge area of 10,000 square meters.

Traffic Diversion Plan for GPO chowk

In order to complete project on time and speed up the work, city traffic police has closed this intersection for 3 months from 1st January. Traffic diversion plans have also been setup to avoid traffic jams and choas.

• Traffic coming from Chairing Cross and Assembly hall and willing to go towards Lower Mall will have to take left turn at State Bank chowk towards Fane road. Then from Mozang Adda chowk, traffic will take turn towards right and go to Lower Mall road via AG office and Jain Mandir.
• Traffic coming from Data darbar, Town hall and Anarkali, and willing to go towards Chairing Cross will be diverted towards Napier road via Neela Gumbad. Then it can come on Mall road via Highcourt chowk.

Speedo Bus FR-12 route changed for an indefinite period of time

Punjab MetroBus Authority (PMA) and Daewoo has temporarily changed the route plan of FR-12 which travels from RA bazar to Civil Secretariat. This decision has been taken after the construction of remaining underground portion Orange line has started on GPO chowk, Mall road.

Orange Line metro train is supposed to pass though the busy intersection of GPO chowk, Mall road. It will be a portion of underground section which also includes Central Station of Orange line. Work on this portion was not yet started as Supreme court had put a stay order some 22 months ago. Now when court has removed the stay order, construction on this portion has started with full swing.

To speed up the work and timely completion of this project, city traffic police has closed GPO chowk for three months which has resulted in traffic chaos and huge traffic jam in this region. Also affecting the operation of Speedo Bus Service FR-12 which is one of the busiest routes of the city.

According to speedo bus attendants, FR-12 whose routine route was from RA bazar to Civil Secretariat, instead of keep going on Mall road will now take turn at Alhamra hall signal near Lahore Zoo, going all the way to Railway station. According to attendants, this route change is temporary and will be back to routine route as soon as GPO chowk is cleared.

Routine route: RA bazar, PAF market, Girja chowk, Fortress stadium, Canal bridge, Lahore Zoo, Chairing Cross, Regal chowk, Anarkali, PMG chowk, Civil Secretariat.

Changed route: RA bazar, PAF market, Girja chowk, Fortress stadium, Canal bridge, Lahore Zoo, Aiwan-e-Iqbal, Shimla pahari, Empress road, Railway station.

How to travel from RA bazar to Civil Secretariat and vice versa

As we have already mentioned that FR-12 is one of the busiest route of the city as it is passing through the major commercial and downtown areas of the city. Most of the government offices and famous educational institutions are situated along this route. Therefore a huge chunk of people will be affected with this route change decision. But still there are other ways people can commute between these points:

To Travel from RA bazar to Regal chowk, Anarkali and Secretariat: Take FR-12 from RA bazar and make stop at Lahore zoo. Then take four stroke rickshaw which will charge you Rs. 20 to go further towards Anarkali and Civil Secretariat. Same method if you are travelling from Secretariat to RA bazar.

To travel from RA bazar to Secratariat: Take FR-15 from RA bazar which will drop you at Civil Secretariat. It goes via Cavalry Ground, Gulberg and Jail road. Another option is to take FR-15 and make stop at Kalma chowk and then take metro bus to go Civil Secretariat. Same method if you are travelling vice versa.

LMC to build 6 storey motorbike parking plaza at Hall road

Lahore Metropolitian Corporation (LMC) has decided to construct a six storey parking plaza for motorbikes at Hall road, one of the busiest mobile and electronics markets of Pakistan located in the heart of Mall road, Lahore.

Parking plaza will be built over 3 kanal and 12 marla land at the cost of Rs. 60 crore (600 million). It will be built to accomodate 4000 motorbikes.

According to sources, LMC will issue tenders for consultancy in the current month. While construction will start right after the land acquisition award.

Something about Hall road:

Hall road is the Hub of Lahore's electronics, TVs, Mobiles, Computers etc. Hall road Lahore is Asia's largest market of electronics, Computers, Magnets, Electronic Components, CCTV Wire & Cables, Mobiles & accessories, DVDs, etc. It is full of retailers, and wholesalers, and is an extremely busy area due to cheap and readily available electronic imports and unlicensed DVDs.