LAHORE: Pakistan Railways has decided to reschedule the Azadi Train, being run in connection with the Independence Day celebrations.

The train was scheduled to start its month-long journey from Peshawar on Monday (Aug 11) and reach Karachi on Sept 11 after passing through all stations during its 4,000km journey.

Without giving any reason a railways announcement said on Monday the Azadi Train will be run at 50 kilometres per hour. It will leave Islamabad’s Margalla Station on Tuesday (Aug 12) at 11am to reach Peshawar from where it will return to reach Rawalpindi the following day.

The train will leave Rawalpindi on Aug 15 for Lahore for a two-day stay here. On Aug 17, it will leave for Quetta through Rohri. The Azadi Train will reach Karachi on Sept 8 after covering a distance of 2,500km.

Two compartments of the train have been allocated to the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) to highlight various aspects of the Freedom Movement and services rendered by armed forces to safeguard it. One compartment has been allocated to railways to highlight its history, while another was allocated to the information ministry.

Published in Dawn, Aug 12th, 2014