Old coaches, new train: New and improved Shalimar Express chugs its way to Karachi

The train has coaches which were burnt in rioting after the assassination of Benazir Bhutto.

KARACHI: Despite the fact that rail traffic was stopped for around six to seven hours because of a series of low-intensity blasts at the rail tracks from Karachi till Mirpur Mathelo, the Shalimar Express was only delayed by two hours on its maiden journey since its renovation.

The train left Lahore on Saturday at 6 in the morning and was welcomed with fireworks and band music at the Karachi Cantt Station at 2:01 am on Sunday.

Shalimar Express was pulled off the tracks by the railways around 19 months ago because of financial constraints. It was given on contract to a company called Air Rail Services (ARS) which will pay the Pakistan Railways Rs1.5 million every day for running it. It has seven economy coaches, two lower-AC coaches, an AC parlour, a dining car, cargo and power coaches.

This is the second joint venture of Pakistan Railways with the private sector and so far has been received well by the people. The scheduled time for departure and arrival is 6 am and 11:55 pm, which makes it the only train to leave and reach its destination in a single day.

An interesting feature of the train is that it has coaches which were burnt down during the riots when Benazir Bhutto was assassinated in 2007. Malik M Rafiq, the director of the ARS, said that the coaches were completely burnt when Pakistan Railways handed it over to the company.

For now the train is offering 20 per cent discount on tickets. The fare for the economy class is Rs 880, for lower AC it is Rs2,400, and Rs2,800 for the AC parlour.

“We are here to facilitate the people and their response has been positive,” said Rafiq. “We have introduced cabins for the first time in the lower AC coaches and fares are also less than that of the other trains.”

“The train departed on time from Lahore and reached without wasting time which is a big achievement for Pakistan Railways,” said Nisar Hussain, a businessman who came on the train.

“Although it is not a new train, but it is better than the rest. It used to take 30 hours to reach Karachi but this train did not waste much time.”

Published in The Express Tribune, February 27^th, 2012.