LAHORE: There was a big rush at the Lahore railway station on Monday and the special trains, run to cater to the Eid rush, seemed insufficient keeping in view the number of people intending to ride trains to journey to their hometowns to celebrate the festival with families.

Railway officials said in addition to the routine 80 or so trains for different destinations, one special train each from Karachi, Rawalpindi and Peshawar for Lahore, Multan and Peshawar were arranged. One or two extra coaches had to be attached with every train to cater to the Eid rush. But a number of people could not find space even for standing in the trains and had to go back and opt for road transport.

Most residents of other cities, especially government employees, had started leaving Lahore from Friday noon.

A number of commuters told this reporter that they preferred going to their hometowns in trains because the road transporters always overcharged and misbehaved with people on occasions like Eid.

The Eidul Fitr operation of the Pakistan Railways began on July 26 with the departure of two special trains from Karachi and one from Quetta for upcountry destinations. So far, eight special trains had been operated from Karachi, Peshawar, Quetta, Multan and Lahore.

There would be no special train on Eid day when all other trains would operate according to the timetable. A 30 per cent less fare would be charged from commuters opting to travel by trains on Eidul Fitr and the following day. The concession would be applicable to all classes of some 100 express, mail and passenger trains.

Meanwhile, an announcement said on Monday all reservation offices of Pakistan Railways would remain closed the whole day on Eidul Fitr and from 8am to 2pm the following day.

The reservation offices would resume routine timings from 8am to 9pm on the third day of Eid, said the announcement.

Published in Dawn, July 29th, 2014