KARACHI: As the year’s first Eid Train prepared to leave the City Railway Station on Sunday morning, the passengers quickly loaded their luggage in it while also doing a careful headcount of the little ones as they got on board.

Reaching for his old suitcase, Meher Saeed Ahmed got up from the bench as he gathered all the plastic shopping bags full of small gift for the family laying beside him. His son Farhan also got up and tried to stand straight though the heavy bag over his shoulder made him tilt to one side. The father and son were heading to Bahawalpur for Eid.

“My entire family lives in Bahawalpur and Farhan here had joined me in Karachi only last week. Now I am going home with him,” said Meher, who works in Karachi as a loading pickup driver. “I intend staying there for about 10 days before returning,” he added, saying that both had paid Rs1,110 for their ticket.

Another passenger, Mahnaz, had her four boys and baby daughter around her but said that she was missing one son. She wouldn’t budge from the platform until his whereabouts could be located. Then the frown lines on her forehead started to smoothen when her brother-in-law told her that the boy was already inside the train.

There was a concession on tickets for children under the age of three just like senior citizens were getting 25 per cent off but the rest had to pay in full. Mahnaz, who was headed to Multan for the holidays, told Dawn that at first the Railways was asking them to pay Rs2,000 for each full ticket but after intervention from a friend, who knew some people in the Railways, they paid Rs1,300 for each.

Like Mahnaz there was also Shahnaz, who was travelling to Rawalpindi with her big family. “I will also get my son engaged to his uncle’s daughter around Eid,” she shared her happy news. The family was paying Rs1,720 per ticket but said that they were so happy they weren’t going to spoil their moods over expensive tickets.

One traveller, Mohammad Arshad, headed to Jhehlum said that he paid hundred rupees extra for his fare. “I booked online and was told that doing so meant paying an extra Rs100,” he said.

For security purposes seven policemen also boarded the train. Constable Syed Imran Ali said that he was newly married and would have preferred to spend more time with his bride during Eid. “But what to do? Duty calls,” he smiled as the guard blew the whistle signaling to leave and the train slowly chugged out of the station.

Meanwhile, speaking to the media, divisional commercial officer Ishaq Baloch said that the Pakistan Railways runs the special Eid Trains every year to handle the extra rush of people visiting their families around this time. “This year there are five special Eid trains, tickets for which have already been completely sold out with the Railways making a profit of Rs1.3 million,” he said.

The Railways’ official said that to accommodate more passengers they are also adding one or two extra carriages to the trains. The trains have no air-conditioned compartments with all of its carriages being plain economy.

The first Eid Train left the City Station exactly on time at 10.45am. It was expected to reach its last stop, Peshawar, right on schedule too at 10.30pm on Monday. The second Eid Train from Karachi will leave for Lahore from the Cantonment Railway Station at 11am on Monday.

The other three special trains were to leave from Quetta, Rawalpindi and Lahore each.

Published in Dawn, June 3rd, 2019