LAHORE: In a bid to stop people from travelling to Murree by rail and road transport, Pakistan Railways on Saturday started creating awareness among the passengers, especially those seeking or already having confirmed ticket reservation for Rawalpindi, about the current weather situation in the mountain resort town.

On the other hand, worsening weather conditions have badly affected the PR’s entire rail operations across the country as a number of trains arrived at Lahore railway station and departed from here very late.

Entire train operation has been affected by weather

“Pak Rail conveys its grief at the demise of tourist families visiting Murree and advises its passengers to alter Murree visit programme. The reservation desks doing any reservation for Rawalpindi have been directed to inform passengers about the weather condition of Murree,” reads a tweet by Minister for Railways Azam Khan Swati.

Meanwhile, a senior PR official told Dawn that all reservation offices of the department have started creating awareness among the passengers about the weather situation. “Those visiting the booking offices are being told at counters while those having reservation for Rawalpindi already are being told telephonically,” the official said.

On the other hand, as many as 15 express passenger trains arrived at Lahore railway station two to seven hours later than scheduled, thus departed late from here to various destinations.

The trains arriving at Lahore late due to weather included Karachi Express (7 hours late from its actual arrival time), Shah Hussain Express (5 hours late), Pakistan Express (5 hours late), Pak Business Express (4 hour 50 minutes), Awam Express (4 hours), Karakoram Express (4 hours), Fareed Express (3 hours 35 minutes), Millat Express (3 hours 30 minutes), Allama Iqbal Express (3 hours 30 minutes), Tezgam Express (3 hours 30 minutes), Green Line Express (3 hours 20 minutes), Rehman Baba Express (3 hours 25 minutes), Khyber Mail (3 hours), Sir Syed Express (3 hours) and Jafar Express (2 hours 30 minutes).

“Arrival and departure of more trains may be delayed due to the ongoing weather conditions,” said a PR spokesman.

Published in Dawn, January 9th, 2022