LAHORE, Dec 31: Rail services to and from Karachi to the rest of the country could not be resumed on Monday while an express train left for Quetta in the evening, four days after rioters torched trains and uprooted tracks following the assassination of PPP leader Benazir Bhutto.

A senior officer at the railways headquarters in Lahore said that one shuttle train each was being operated daily for Samasatta, Multan and Sahiwal.

“All trains to and from Rawalpindi and Peshawar (up to Lahore and Multan) are running according to the schedule. Balochistan Express was the first train that left Lahore at 7pm after four-day break on Monday,” added the officer who wished not to be named.

Railways infrastructure, including communications and signal systems, had entirely been wrecked between Karachi and Sukkur in unrest.

After a green signal from law-enforcement authorities, makeshift arrangements could be made within 36 hours to allow the running of four passenger trains, compared to eight before the unrest, the officer said.