KARACHI: Over 1,100 passengers, including children, boarded a special Eid train in Karachi on Tuesday, heading to their hometowns to celebrate the festival with loved ones amid excitement.

It was the third of the four special trains arranged by Pakistan Railways on the occasion of Eidul Fitr and the first one departing from Karachi with Peshawar as its last stop.

The special Eid train is said to make some 31 stops, including Hyderabad, Tando Adam, Nawabshah, Rohri, Khanpur, Bahawalpur, Lodhran, Multan, Khanewal, Shorkot, Toba Tek Singh, Gojra, Faisalabad, Chak Jhumra, Chiniot, Shahinabad, Sargodha, Malakwal, Mandi Bahauddin, Lalamusa, Jhelum, Rawalpindi, Hasan Abdal, Attock, Jehangira, Nowshera and Peshawar.

Most of the 1,176 passengers boarded the train, consisting 16 rail-cars, from the Cantonment Station. Minutes before the train chugged into the stations, Platform No 1 was cluttered with luggage comprising suitcases, hand bags, stuff tied in bed sheets or plastic gunny bags, fruit crates along with water coolers and compartment tiffins along with shoppers full of biscuits, potato crisps and juice boxes.

Peshawar-bound train will make 31 stops including Faisalabad and Rawalpindi

And as soon as the train arrived the platform floor and benches were cleared. Everyone went into complete frenzy as they found their rail-cars and compartments to settle in while keeping track of all their children, the older ones of whom were also made responsible for carrying this luggage item or the other.

Aleesa Nadeem was headed to Faisalabad for Eid with her husband and their four kids, the younger of whom had already opened the tiffin and was busy consuming pulao because the Eid train was a few minutes late in arriving at Cantonment Station.

Imran Husain was travelling with his wife, daughter and toddler son to Multan to be with his parents and siblings. “I work here in building construction and Eid is the only occasion I get to see my family. I saved up the entire year for it,” he said.

Brothers Altaf Ahmed and Basheer Ahmed work as fruit vendors in Karachi. For Eid they saved up to go to Bahawalpur to be with their families. “It is the only time of the year we get to stay with our children,” the younger of the brothers shared.

Due to the rise in fuel prices, it was deemed that Pakistan Railways might just cancel its special Eid trains this year, which did not happen thankfully.

Divisional Superintendent Karachi Mehmood Ur Rehman Lakho told Dawn that the rising fuel costs were their concern too but they did not raise ticket prices for the Eid passengers. “We were mindful that the trains are arranged to facilitate the public and not to burden them,” he pointed out.

Earlier on Monday, two other special Eid trains already left from Lahore for Karachi and from Quetta for Rawalpindi on Monday.

The fourth and last Eid train will depart from Karachi for Lahore on Wednesday (today). Travellers can book their tickets online or from their nearest Pakistan Railways registration office till the eleventh hour.

Published in Dawn, March 18th, 2026