ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Railways has launched a special train service for two days a week in the southwestern province of Balochistan to promote tourism in the area, it said in a statement on Sunday.
The “tourist train” service launched on the “special request” of the Balochistan government will run between Quetta and Bostan, and Quetta and Kolpur, every Saturday and Sunday, with the ticket price ranging from Rs20 to Rs50, it added.
Quetta is the capital of Balochistan, bordering Iran and Afghanistan.
“This is the second tourist train launched in the country this year that offers travelers a chance to see the historic sites,” Nazia Jabeen, Director Public Relations, Pakistan Railways, told Arab News on Sunday.
A train is decorated for the launch of the special tourist train service in Quetta, Pakistan, on July 03, 2021. (Photo courtesy: Pakistan Railways)
It follows the launch of a train service from Rawalpindi, through Taxila, Hassanabdal, to the historic Attock railway station near the Indus River, earlier this year.
Balochistan is home to the newly expanded Gwadar port, central to the prestigious $6.8 billion China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) project.
CPEC has seen Beijing pledge over $60 billion for infrastructure projects in Pakistan, part of China’s broader Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) to develop land and sea trade routes in Asia and beyond.
Tourism is one of the key areas that Pakistan’s government is focussing on, with the National Tourism Coordination Board (NTCB) set up to market and promote domestic and international travel.
