Prime Minister Syed Yousaf Raza Gillani will inaugurate the Business Express, the first non-stop train to run between the provincial capitals of Punjab and Sindh with its passenger facilitation by the private sector, today. Pakistan Railways and Four Brothers International had inked an agreement on August 18 last year to operate the train between Lahore and Karachi 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 its coaches could not be renovated and upgraded according to the standard of the private company in time.
Comprising nine AC coaches, two power and one luggage vans and a dining car, the up train will leave Karachi City at 3:30 pm and reach Lahore at 9:35 am the next day, while the down special will leave Lahore at 3:30pm to arrive at Karachi City at 10am the next day, after having technical stoppages at Khanewal and Rohri. Under the agreement, the company will invest Rs 225.786 million to bring value adding ‘substantive changes’ to the passenger services, including ticketing, luggage care, bedding and food service etc. 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 per cent of carrying capacity of the train. The agreement will be valid for five years and can be extended for another term with the consent of both the parties.
