QUETTA, May 16: Balochistan Governor Owais Ahmed Ghani on Monday inaugurated the service of Abbasin Express and Balochistan Express which would ply between Quetta and Peshawar and Quetta and Karachi, respectively. Briefing the governor at a ceremony held at the railway station, Divisional Superintendent of Pakistan Railways, Quetta, Ali Hasan Tori said that Jaffar Express had been replaced by Abbasin Express.

The Abbasin Express would reach Peshawar in 31 hours while the Balochistan Express would take 16 hours to reach Karachi. The railways would earn about half a million rupee revenue daily from new trains which would ply daily, he added.

He said the Balochistan Express would begin its journey at 1345 hours and reach Karachi in 15 hours and 45 minutes. It has nine bogies with a total capacity of 1,178 passengers. It would stop at Quetta, Kolpur, Mach, Abigum, Sibi, Jacobabad, Shikarpur, Sukkur, Rohri, Nawabshah, Hyderabad and Karachi.

Abbasin Express has 554 seats and nine bogies. It would leave Quetta at 1415 hours and take 22 hours for Lahore, 27 hours for Rawalpindi and 31 hours up to Peshawar. Its stops would include Kolpur, Mach, Abigum, Sibi, Dera Murad Jamali, Jacobabad, Shikarpur, Rohri, Sadiqabad, Rahimyar Khan, Bahawalpur, Khanewal, Sahiwal, Okara, Lahore, Gujranwala, Gujrat, Lala Musa, Jhelum Rawalpindi, Attock city, Nowshera, Peshawar.

It may be recalled that Jaffar Express was named after Mir Jaffar Khan Jamali, the uncle of former prime minister Zafarullah Jamali, who played a vital role in the freedom movement and was a close associate of Quaid-i-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah.