At last, some kind of effort seems to have been made to salvage what little remains of Pakistan Railways. The first luxury ‘business train’ to run between Lahore and Karachi, a private-public sector venture, was inaugurated by the prime minister, as it tooted off on its scheduled time of 3:30 pm from the Lahore Railway Station on February 3, cheered on by people collected at the tinsel-decorated platform. The train was schedule to reach the Karachi station in 18 hours. The service is to run simultaneously between Lahore and Karachi, with trains departing from both stations at 3:30 pm daily. Along the way, passengers paying Rs5,000 for a one-way ride will be able to enjoy flat screen TVs, wifi access, top-notch dining facilities and other mod cons which rival those seen anywhere in the world.
The private company MS Four Brothers, which entered into a deal with Pakistan Railways last year, has made a Rs225 million investment in the project and will pay Rs1.5 million per trip. This should help the disastrously cash-strapped entity gain some capital to help keep it afloat. Much depends, of course, on how successful the service is, and how efficiently it is run. In the past, experiments with ‘high quality’ trains — like the one which ran between Lahore and Rawalpindi — were made, but could not be sustained over the years due to mismanagement of resources and operational inefficiencies. The private interest involved this time round may help avoid this pitfall. Even so, there are still concerns regarding security and the quality of tracks and it is imperative that these potential gaps be overcome immediately for the venture to succeed. Undoubtedly, this is an exciting and highly useful venture for commuters in an age of soaring airfares. It is essential that it succeeds, given that it may represent the last hope to salvage Pakistan Railways, which over the past few years has —quite literally — been falling apart. The new service may just offer it a ray of hope, allowing it to scramble back onto the track from which it has effectively been derailed.
Correction: An earlier version of this post read "reached" instead of reach.
Published in The Express Tribune, February 5th, 2012.
COMMENTS (10)
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This new service is a great idea. I look forward to be in this train soon. Hopefully, round trip. I have been on Shatabdi Express between Lucknow and Dehli which is a simialr concept, and a great serivce and a great train. The only problem in Shatabdi was the cleanliness of the bathrooms. If desis could only fix their bathroom manners!
Best of luck friends !! :)
@PakEU: Don't get too excited. The trains in Finland have been running for years, let's talk about this train after an year and we can really compare.
I am a Pakistani in Finland, and tell you what this awesome service competes with the high speed ALLEGRO link between Helsinki, Finland and St. Petersburg Russia. trains in Finland are among the best in europe, this Pakistani train is an excellent initiative. Good Luck! Pakistan zindabad!
We have a long history of projects like these being launched and then abandoned due to poor management practices and mafia style business dealings. What do you think happened to Daewoo Bus Service? Initimidated by the thug who runs the Kohistan Bus Service.
@antanu g, Friend, you could have said that with little less condescension. Indeed, Pakistanis are resilient and going to bounce back in few years time. All doomsday prophets will be proven wrong. Remember , David Kilcullen ( author of accidental guerrilla) predicted in 2009 that Pakistan is going to collapse in six months. There were many more like him especially your compatriots ( Indians). They all have been proven wrong and will be proven wrong in future too, InshaAllah.
pakis are indeed very resilient....whenever prophets of doom cried ITS OVER FOR PAK, the country has bounced back like a phoenix....buck up pakis ....prove the world wrong again. this is an asian century...but it will not be 100% unless you also join the race...GOOD LUCK.
Very Bad English: "The train was schedule to reached the Karachi station in 18 hours." line 7
Great Initiative, I must say. I pray that it keeps up the momentum. Please educate people not to trash this up. Introduce code of conduct, hire inspectors; hefty fines will be great deterrents, how about online tickets.
Congratulations, lets give airline industry a run for their money. Good for the consumers, right?
Great Initiative, I must say. I pray that it keeps up the momentum. Please educate people not to trash this up. Introduce code of conduct, hire inspectors; hefty fines will be great deterrents, how about online tickets.
Congratulations, lets give airline industry a run for their money. Good for the consumers, right?