ON MAY 16 Pakistan Railways launched two daily inter-city express services from the western city of Quetta. The inaugural trains were flagged off by the Governor of Baluchistan, Owais Ahmed Ghani.
Worked with new Chinese-built air-conditioned coaches, the accelerated Baluchistan Express between Quetta and Karachi now covers the 862 km in 16h. The Abbasin Express between Quetta and Peshawar takes 31h for the 1587 km, and replaces the former Quetta - Rawalpindi Jaffar Express, serving Nowshera and Attock on the 70 km extension to Peshawar. Two Japanese tourists visiting NorthWest Frontier province had been invited to inaugurate the first southbound Abbasin Express, which left Peshawar on May 15.
According to PR’s Divisional Superintendent in Quetta, Ali Hasan Tori, the two trains are expected to generate revenues of around Rs500000 a day.
- PR is planning to buy 150 new coaches to replace ageing stock on four of its principal routes, including Lahore - Rawalpindi and Lahore - Faisalabad. The proposal envisages that 40 coaches would be imported and the rest assembled locally.
