KARACHI, Nov 12: Fully packed special trains, run by the Pakistan Railways, taking people to the upcountry to celebrate Eid-ul-Fitr with their families started leaving on Friday.

The PR operated three Eid specials, all on Friday, with two trains for Lahore/Rawalpindi and one for Faisalabad/Sargodha. The first train left the Karachi Cantonment station for Rawalpindi at 11am, while the second and third trains for Sargodha and Rawalpindi were scheduled to leave at 2pm and 5pm respectively.

The first Eid special train was seen off at the cantonment station by the Divisional Superintendent, Junaid Qureshi. "Entire seats and berths in all the three trains are booked," the DS told APP. While seats and berths in other regular express and mail trains were also booked, he added.

He said that the newly introduced Millat Train for Faisalabad was drawing big crowds and was running packed to capacity. However, he said, no problem was faced by people in getting their seats reserved in any of the trains because of the computerised reservation system and ample occupancy available.

He said that there had been no complaints of black marketing of tickets due to stringent measures taken by railway authorities, adding that special surveillance teams were formed to keep a watch on black marketers.

Mr Qureshi said that since there would be a maximum rush of people leaving for upcountry destinations on Saturday, senior and other officials and the PR police had been put on emergency duties. - APP