Pakistan Railways on Wednesday outsourced its third train to the private sector, which will run between Lahore and Karachi via Faisalabad and Multan. The train was outsourced for five years to Shalimar Group on a bid of Rs 631.95 million. The ''Night Coach'' train will consist of 14 coaches, including one A/C sleeper, two AC standards, seven economy-class, and one AC dining car.

Rana Rafaqat Ali, Managing Partner, Shalimar Group and Pakistan Railways AGM Traffic Abdul Razaq Shah signed a Memorandum of Understanding in this regard. Railways Chairman Arif Azeem and General Manager Operation Junaid Qureshi were also present at the MoU signing ceremony. According to the agreement, "the running time of the train between Karachi and Lahore is 18:00 hours. The private party will be responsible to bring substantive changes to value addition in the services to be provided to the passengers.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2012