BAHAWALPUR: The Bahawalpur Parks and Horticulture Authority (PHA) launched the first-ever rail restaurant in the country, complete with a platform, booking office and a dining hall set up in refurbished railway carriage, in the heart of the city.

The carriage, which serves as the dining hall of the restaurant named ‘Bahawalpur Junction’, was shifted from the railway’s junkyard a few months ago to the venue, in front of the over a century old Government Sadiq Dane High School near the city’s busy commercial hub of Farid Gate. The carriage has been refurbished with new seating arrangement and adorned with different pictures of trains and railway stations, modern lights and new tables for the visitors.

The PHA has created the ambiance of an actual railway platform, with an iron fence around it, Victorian tin roof, a big clock, railway signals, and a ‘booking office’ at the restaurant to attract people.

The restaurant has a modern kitchen to provide hot meals and snacks to the customers, who are served by uniformed waiters.

The visitors can also opt for sitting in the open to enjoy the environment and the food.

Commissioner Dr Ehtsham Anwar Mahaar flanked by Deputy Commissioner Zaheer Anwar Jappa and PHA Director-General Ms Rubina Abbasi inaugurated the restaurant at a colourful ceremony amid multi-coloured banners, balloons and flags to mark the festive occasion.

On the occasion, the commissioner said more measures were being taken for the promotion of tourism in the area and for welfare of the locals.

He said it took over eight months to refurbish the old railway carriage and turn it into a restaurant, where ambiance of an actual railway station has been created by adding sounds of running trains, whistling locomotives and special platform announcements etc, for the enjoyment of the customers.

The DC announced that the heritage building of the Baghdadul Jadid railway station near the city on abandoned Karachi-Bhatindha (India) railway track would also be refurbished and decorated to provide more recreational opportunities to the people.

Published in Dawn, November 7th, 2023