#pakistani trains

[kattyjamez]

Zikriya Express Lead By Age 30 Crossing Malir Colony Railway Station || ...

[kattyjamez]

An Evening With Karachi Express At Lahore Railway Station || Pakistan Railways

An Evening With #KarachiExpress At #LahoreRailwayStation. #PakistanRailways is going nowhere with this management. It is a small effort of a train vlog to sh...

An Evening With #KarachiExpress At #LahoreRailwayStation. #PakistanRailways is going nowhere with this management. It is a small effort of

[kattyjamez]

Shah Hussain Express In High Speed Crossing Near By Ferozwala || Pakistan Railways

#ShahHussainExpress In High Speed Crossing Near By Ferozwala. #PakistanRailways management at least should upgrade their Railway crossing. Shah Hussain Expre...

American Engine leading Pakistani Train in very high speed.

[kattyjamez]

Empty Bogies of Subak Raftar Express Arriving To Lahore Railway Station || Pakistan Railways

Empty Bogies of #SubakRaftarExpress Arriving To #LahoreRailwayStation. Most successful train of #PakistanRailways is 103 UP Subak Raftar Express. Pakistan Ra...

Pakistani Train coming towards platform after being washed at washing lines

[kattyjamez]

Subak Raftar Express All Set To Leave Lahore Railway Station || Pakistan Railways

#SubakRaftarExpress All Set To Leave #LahoreRailwayStation. #PakistanRailways has few trains that constantly giving profit to Pakistan Railways. Subak Raftar...

Pakistan Railways using American Engine for Pakistani Trains

[kattyjamez]

Jaffar Express Leaving Mach Railway Station || Pakistan Railways

[newstfionline]

Pakistan, Rusting in Its Tracks

By Declan Walsh, NY Times, May 18, 2013

RUK, Pakistan--Resplendent in his gleaming white uniform and peaked cap, jacket buttons tugging his plump girth, the stationmaster stood at the platform, waiting for a train that would never come. "Cutbacks," Nisar Ahmed Abro said with a resigned shrug.

Ruk Station, in the center of Pakistan, is a dollhouse-pretty building, ringed by palm trees and rice paddies. Once, it stood at the junction of two great Pakistani rail lines: the Kandahar State Railway, which raced north through the desert to the Afghan border; and another that swept east to west, chaining cities from the Hindu Kush mountains to the Arabian Sea.

Now it was a ghost station. No train had stopped at Ruk in six months, because of cost cutting at the state-owned rail service, Pakistan Railways, and the elegant station stood lonely and deserted. Idle railway men smoked in the shadows. A water buffalo sauntered past.

Mr. Abro led the way into his office, a high-ceilinged room with a silent grandfather clock. Pouring tea, he mopped sweat from his brow. The afternoon heat was rising, and the power had been down for 16 hours--nothing unusual in Pakistan these days.

Opposite him, Faisal Imran, a visiting railway engineer, listened sympathetically to the mournful stationmaster. This was about more than just trains--more than the decrepit condition of the once-mighty state railway service, Mr. Imran said. It was about Pakistan itself.

"The railways are the true image of our country," he said, sipping his tea in the heat. "If you want to see Pakistan, see its railways."

For all the wonders offered by a train journey across Pakistan--a country of jaw-dropping landscapes, steeped in a rich history and filled with unexpected pleasures--it also presents some deeply troubling images.

At every major stop on the long line from Peshawar, in the northwest, to the turbulent port city of Karachi, lie reminders of why the country is a worry to its people, and to the wider world: natural disasters and entrenched insurgencies, abject poverty and feudal kleptocrats, and an economy near meltdown.

The election last weekend was a hopeful moment for a struggling democracy, with the party of former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif winning a huge mandate amid record voter turnout of nearly 60 percent. But the voting left undecided the larger battle against popular disillusionment. In a country forged on religion, Pakistanis are losing faith. People are desperate for change--for any improvement their proudly nuclear-armed government could make, yet has not.

Chronic electricity shortages, up to 18 hours per day, have crippled industry and stoked public anger. The education and health systems are inadequate and in stark disrepair. The state airline, Pakistan International Airlines, which lost $32 million last year, is listing badly. The police are underpaid and corrupt, and militancy is spreading. There is a disturbing sense of drift.

This failure is the legacy of decades of misadventure, misrule and misfortune under both civilian and military leaders, but its price is being paid by the country's 180 million people.

To them, the dire headlines about Taliban attacks and sterile arguments about failed states mean little. Their preoccupations are mundane, yet vitally important. They want jobs and educations for their children. They want fair treatment from their justice system and electricity that does not flicker out.

And they want trains that run on time.

Much as the American West filled out one train depot at a time, Pakistan was forged on steel rails. The state-owned train system, over 5,000 miles of track inherited from the British at independence in 1947, helped mesh a new and fractious country. Trains ferried migrants to the cities, provided a moving platform for campaigning politicians and played a role in the wars against India. It became--and remains--the country's largest civilian employer, still with more than 80,000 employees.

Today, though, decades of neglect have taken a heavy toll. On paper, Pakistan Railways has almost 500 engines, but in reality barely 150 are in working order. Most Pakistanis prefer to take the bus. Those left on the trains are often frustrated, sometimes mutinous.

Early last year, dozens of protesting passengers laid their children across the tracks in Multan, in southern Punjab Province. They were angry because a journey that should have taken 18 hours had lasted three days--and they were still only halfway to their destination.