ISLAMABAD - Business Express, the first non stop train between Lahore and Karachi on the basis of public-private partnership will operate from February 3.
An official of Pakistan Railways told APP that a Memorandum of Understanding has already been signed with Ms Four Brothers (pvt) limited to run the train daily between the two cities. Ms Four Brothers will invest Rs 225.786 million in the Business Train, which will consist of 13 coaches including nine air conditioned coaches, two power vans, one luggage van and one brake van. Reservation for the train has also started.
The reservation process is underway at the Business Lounge adjacent to the Lahore Cantt Railways Station and the booking office at Railways headquarters beside through website www.pakbusinessexpress.com and by telephone. The facility of home delivery of tickets is also available against Rs 100 courier fee in Lahore while reservation facility in Karachi is available at Karachi Cantt station.
The Pakistan Railways and M/s four Brother International (Pvt) Ltd had signed an agreement on August 18 last year to operate the train between Punjab and Sindh capitals as a joint venture under public private partnership.
The train was to start running between Lahore city and Karachi Cantt within 120 days of signing the agreement but its inauguration had to be postponed because coaches could not be renovated and upgraded according to the standards of the private company.
Special meals and beverages will be served during the journey which will be part of the agreement. The train will leave Karachi city at 1530 hours and reach Lahore at 0935 hours the next day while the down speciat 1530 hours to arrive at Karachi city at 1000 hours the next day after having technical stoppages at Khanewal and Rohi.
It will pay Rs. 1.573 million per single train journey and Rs. 1.148 billion per annum to railways at the rate of 88 percent of carrying capacity of the train. The agreement will be extended for another term with the consent of both the parties.
At present, three trains - Farid Express, Rohi Express and Hazara Express - are commercially operated by Pakistan Railways Advisory and Consultancy Services (Pracs), an organisation formed by retired Railway officers.