K-P to resume bus service for tourists in Peshawar

Restarting Safari train service also on the cards

PESHAWAR:

The provincial government has decided to resume bus service for tourists visiting the walled city areas of the Peshawar.

The bus service was suspended due to Covid-19. Hiowever, following decline in the coronavirus cases, the government on Sunday announced to reopen the tourist-transport facility.

The starting point of the bus service is Peshawar Museum and ends in Ghor Ghatri area in the walled city. The tourists could visit the heritage trail, Ghanta Ghar, Sethi House and Sethiyan Mullaha in the area while reroute to Namak Mandi, and Sarafa Bazaar.

K-P govt to begin Safari train service

Meanwhile, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) Chief Minister Mahmood Khan on Sunday sanctioned to resume the historic Safri train service in the province.

The K-P Tourism Department has said the provincial chief executive has also approached the Railway Department for resuming the Safari train service.

The train service would begin on the Attock Khurd track and Peshawar to Takhtbhai track.

The visitors would be entertained by organising football and volleyball matches, kite competitions, archery games at their arrival in Attock Khurd. They would be taken to archeological sites upon arrival in Takhtbahi tehsil of Mardan district.

The famous Khyber Steam Safari Train which followed a serpentine track known as the “iron horse” amidst the rugged Tatara mountains in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa was pressed back into service but not on the route most hoped it would take.

Closed in 2007 due to a deteriorating security situation, the world famous train resumed its journey earlier this week but from Peshawar to Attock Khurd and to Landi Kotal, which took travelers through the Khyber Pass.

 

Published in The Express Tribune, August 17^th, 2020.