LAHORE: Musa Pak Express will become a non-stop train from Friday (tomorrow) when all its stoppages, introduced on an experimental basis, are eliminated.

“Keeping in view passenger response, it has been decided to eliminate all three stops of the 115-Up/116-Down Musa Pak Express,” a Pakistan Railways spokesperson said on Wednesday.

The express train was allowed to stop at Raiwind, Sahiwal and Khanewal on an experimental basis from Oct 15 last year when the 115-Up Musa Pak started leaving Multan at 4pm to reach Lahore at 8:50pm, while the 116-Down departing Lahore at 12 midnight to arrive at Multan at 5:20am.

Comprising an AC parlour, two AC business and five economy class coaches, Musa Pak Express started chugging between Lahore and Multan on Oct 20, 2014, some three years or so after its operation was suspended for want of locomotives.

The non-stop train has been travelling between Lahore and Multan in four-and-a-half hours.

Published in Dawn, January 14th, 2016