Pakistan's first Business train reached Karachi fifteen minutes before the scheduled time from Lahore on Saturday.
As part of first private investment of millions of rupees in the ailing state railways, the Business Express reached Karachi cantt station at 9:45am, 15 minutes ahead of the scheduled time. The train, inaugurated by Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani, left Lahore at 3.30pm on Friday for its first journey.
Thirteen carriages have been lovingly restored into a sleek sleeper to ply the 1,200 kilometres (800 miles) between Pakistan's two biggest cities, Lahore and Karachi, on an 18-hour journey that once used to take upwards of 30 hours.
For Rs5,000 one way, or Rs9,000 return, passengers were waited on by a bevy of attentive stewards, as they settled down to watch films on flat-screen TVs or power up laptops.
Years of decline saw customers flock to airlines and luxury coaches.
Authorities said Business Express, and a similar service to be rolled out on February 20 between Lahore, the textiles centre of Faizalabad and Karachi, are a success then investors will sink millions more into saving the railways.
"The sky's the limit because we're in a pretty bad shape. We need a totally new fleet. 75 percent of our wagons can be described as vintage," they said.