KARACHI: What makes the Eid special train so special is the fact that it left on time at noon on Tuesday. The train, comprising 15 compartments, is taking 1,105 out-of-towners to Lahore and Peshawar.
Railway officials confirmed that a committee was formed to improve travel facilities for passengers going to celebrate Eid and that is perhaps the reason why it left on time.
The second and the last Eid train will leave Karachi at 1 pm on Wednesday and will go to Lahore via Faisalabad. Tickets for this train are available at the usual counter and are sold at the normal price.
Meanwhile, scores of people throng Cantt Railway Station, Karachi, as they try to make it home in time for Eid. Amir Sajjad, a student in Karachi, wants to return to Sahiwal before Eid and does not mind that he has to wait several hours before he can buy the ticket.
“Everyone is preparing for my arrival at home,” he said, adding that, “if I can’t make it home, my family will be worried”.
Amir is not the only one among the swelling crowd who wants to spend Eid with his family. A majority of those gathered around the ticket booth have been in Karachi either for studies or for employment and they are not going to let the long queues discourage them.
The railway authorities said, however, that they have increased the number of ticket counters given the rush during this time of the year.
Published in The Express Tribune, September 8th, 2010.
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