LAHORE, Jan 1: The Karakoram Express was the first train that left Lahore station for Karachi on Tuesday when rail service to the Sindh capital partially restored five days after rioters torched trains and uprooted tracks following the assassination of PPP leader Benazir Bhutto.

No coach of the Karachi-bound train had more than 40 passengers when it left Lahore at 4pm.

The Khyber Mail reached Lahore around 6:15pm and left for Karachi after half an hour with almost the same number of passengers for both sides.

An officer at the railways headquarters in Lahore told this reporter that the Lahore-bound Karachi Express was on its way to the Punjab capital, followed by the Khyber Mail that would go up to Peshawar.

“Railways infrastructure, including communications and signal systems, had been wrecked between Karachi and Sukkur, but makeshift arrangements had been made to run passenger trains. From Wednesday, Tezgam and Super Express would operate according to their schedule,” the officer said.