A public private partnership agreement for Shalimar Group to manage an overnight Lahore to Karachi passenger service was signed by Pakistan Railways on December 26th.
The Night Coach Express is scheduled to start in early January,with Shalimar Group managing commercial aspects of the service and PR responsible for train operations.
This is the third PPP deal for the private management of passenger services,following agreements covering the Shalimar Express and Business Express which brought PR an income of PKR 1 billion in 2012.
The Night Coach Express agreement runs for 5 years with an option for a 5 year extension.Shalimar Group will pay PR a fee of PKR 1•7 million per return service,equivalent to 70%occupancy at standard fares.The private partner will also invest PKR 82 million in developing onboard services,and contribute PKR 100 million to enable locomotives to be repaired and returned to use.
There will be simultaneous daily departures from Lahore and Karachi at 18.00.The trains will stop at Faisalabad,Multan,Bahawalpur,Rohri,Nawab Shah,Hyderabad and Karachi Cantonment,with an end to end journey time of 18 h.Airline style pricing is planned,with discounts for advance booking.
