KARACHI: The first of the five special Eid trains to be run by the Pakistan Railways to facilitate passengers’ travelling to be with relatives and loved ones on Eid left the City Station here on Tuesday.

The train which left the City Station at 6.30pm will reach its last stop, Peshawar at 3am on April 20, while making stopovers at Hyderabad, Nawabshah, Rohri, Khanpur, Bahawalpur, Multan, Khanewal, Shorkot, Toba Tek Singh, Gojra, Faisalabad, Chak Jhumra, Chiniot, Chenab Nagar, Shaheenabad, Sargodha, Mandi Bahauddin, Lala Moosa, Jehlum, Rawalpindi, Taxila, Attock and Nowshera.

There were so many people travelling with family, who looked very happy to be going to meet their cousins, aunts, uncles and grandparents. Sawera, Javeria, Hafsa and their brother Abdul Sattar couldn’t wait to get to Sukkur. In their enthusiasm the girls, whose hands were already decorated with henna designs, had also decorated their little brother’s hands with henna, which looked quite funny. Ghulam Ali, their father, said that he paid for three full tickets of Rs1,450 from Karachi to Rohri for himself, his better half and eldest daughter while for the other kids he had to only buy half tickets of Rs700 each.

Mohammad Usama and Wali Rahan, two brothers, were going to Bahawalpur to meet their grandfather with elder sister Irsa.

Passenger says he prefers rail journey over plane as his children would enjoy it more

Also going to Bahawalpur were Mohammed Wazeer and wife Rashda with their four kids — Anaya, Bakhtawar, Abu Bakr and Mohammed Omar. They said that they paid Rs2,300 each for three berths because they were travelling with little children.

Mohammad Ansar Iqbal was going to Faisalabad with his six children, wife, sister-in-law and niece. He said that he had moved to Karachi because of his work as a software engineer. “But Eid is an occasion when we all yearn to go home, even for a little while,” he smiled. “That happiness cannot be weighed in money so I am just glad that we could all travel together to Faisalabad whatever the fare,” he said.

Arman and Hasnain were going to Peshawar to meet their paternal aunt.

Aniqa, Areeba, Rabbia in cute identical dresses were heading to Sargodha with their father Mohammed Imran to see their grandmother. “I am an employee of the Pakistan Air Force and I also had the option of travelling by our PAF Airbus but this train seemed like a better option because I knew that my kids would enjoy it more,” he said.

There were also friends travelling in groups. Four young men, Mohammed Salman, Mohammad Hasnain, Shahid Pervaiz and Ibtisam Alvi, were going to Sargodha on the Eid train. “We all belong to the same village, which also became the reason for our friendship. Now we are also going home together on the same train for Eid,” said one of them, Mohammed Salman.

The train also had ample security. Ziafat Sulaiman Janjua, a head constable with the Pakistan Railways Police, told Dawn that for security reasons they check and clear the train from inside before the passengers board it. They also scanned the passengers coming in from the platform gates. “Then we also board the trains after the passengers to keep a watchful eye for anything amiss. We also raise awareness among the passengers to not accept anything to eat or drink from strangers. You never know, it might be something that may make them sick or drowsy to help the culprits take off with their valuable belongings,” he explained.

The first Eid train comprised 17 economy class coaches with a capacity of 1,046 passengers.

The second special Eid train from Quetta to Rawalpindi left from 10pm also on Tuesday.

The third Eid train will leave Karachi Cantonment Station for its final destination of Lahore at 8.15pm on Wednesday.

The remaining two Eid trains are the return trains that will run after Eid. One will leave from Rawalpindi on April 26 to reach its final destination, Quetta, on April 27 and the other will leave Lahore on April 27 to reach its final stop at Karachi Cantonment Station on April 28.

Published in Dawn, April 19th, 2023