LAHORE, June 18 The stop of Shalimar Express at Rahim Yar Khan will be restored on June 21, some two months or so when the same was withdrawn to save fuel.

Shalimar Express (27-up/28-down) would stop at Rahim Yar Khan for two minutes, the Pakistan Railways announced on Thursday.

Rahim Yar Khan was among the 90 stations that had lost stops of 40 trains as part of Pakistan Railways efforts to make itself an economically viable organisation from April 15.

A one-minute stoppage increases between five to eight minutes travel time of a train from one place to another. The railways had eliminated the stops of Shalamar Express at Nawabshah, Paddian, Mehrabpur, Khairpur, Pano Aqil, Mirpur Mathelo, Sadiqabad, Rahim Yar Khan, Khanpur, Bahawalpur, Sahiwal, Okara and Raiwind.

The elimination of stops and operation of Shalimar Express according to new timings from May 10 enabled the non-stop train to cover the distance between Karachi and Lahore in 18 hours and 10 minutes.

Previously, the 27-up/28-down Shalimar Express took 19 hours to reach Lahore from Karachi and vice versa.