LAHORE, Oct 8: The travel duration of all express trains running between Lahore and Karachi will be further reduced by half-an-hour when the winter timetable will be implemented by the Pakistan Railways from Oct 15.

At present, trains cover the distance between Punjab and Sindh capitals in 18 hours or so, an official of the Railways at its headquarters in Lahore said on Wednesday.

It has been the tradition that summer timings come into effect from April 15 and remain in force till Oct 14 and winter from Oct 15 till April 14 every year since the early quarter of 20th century when a railway was constructed in this part of the subcontinent.

Travel duration of express trains running between Lahore and Karachi had been 16 hours before Dec 27 last year when the rail network had suffered severe damage during riots following Benazir Bhutto’s assassination.

Rail service from Karachi to other parts had to be suspended for a few days following the riots. Initially, trains were covering the Lahore-Karachi distance in 24 hours or so but the situation started improving with the restoration of network and the travel duration was reduced to 20 hours when the railways switched over to summer timetable on April 15 this year.

The timetable was revised on July 1 this year and the travel duration was further reduced by another two hours, the official said while quoting data on punctuality of trains: “Some 79 per cent trains reached their destination on time in July 2007 compared to 77 per cent this year; the percentage in August 2007 was 78 against this year’s 88 while some 80 per cent trains reached their destinations on time in Sept 2007 compared to 88 per cent this September.”