KARACHI, Dec 30: Rail services from Karachi will resume on Monday, four days after rioters torched trains and uprooted tracks following the assassination of PPP leader Benazir Bhutto.

“From Monday evening train service from Karachi will be resumed,” Railways Minister Tariq Mansoor told AFP, referring to links to northern cities such as Rawalpindi and Lahore.

The railways minister put the initial estimate of losses caused to the rail network at Rs12 billion, saying 20 train engines and 140 coaches were destroyed in unrest.

He said the railways infrastructure, including communications and signal systems, had been totally wrecked between Karachi and Sukkur, but makeshift arrangements would be made to allow the running of passenger trains. Four daily trains will depart from Karachi, compared to eight before the unrest, he added.—Agencies