KARACHI, Dec 17: The newly introduced Pakistan Express, which began its first journey from Rawalpindi to Karachi, arrived here more than five hours late.

Railway officials failed to provide any specific reason for the delayed arrival of Pakistan Express saying that it got late due to some technical problems.

The train was scheduled to arrive here at 6:30am but it came here at noon, almost 5:30 hours behind the schedule. Its departure time from Karachi to Rawalpindi is 11:30am but it departed at around 3pm due to its late arrival.

Intending passengers, who reached the railway station to catch Pakistan Express, had to wait at the platform for more than four hours. The platform lacked seating arrangements or proper waiting rooms and the passengers with their relatives waited anxiously for departure of the train.

Besides, those, who came to the station early morning to receive incoming passengers from upcountry, could not be guided properly about the actual time of arrival of the train.

Paksitan Express, having 16 wagons and comprising only economy class, is one of the new trains being run by the Pakistan Railways on the instructions of the railway minister. Some railway officials claimed that addition of new trains on the tracks was causing delays in departure and arrival of trains as the officials had not managed their timings so far.