Home > Notebook > Mehr Express Boldly Goes Where No One Has Gone Before

For the journey from Multan to Islamabad (Rawalpindi) it was possible to book only one train – Mehr Express. At least that's what I was told at the office. There were no air-con carriages, only seats or sleeper. I chose sleeper, going on a seat is only for lunatics. In a compartment were six berths, compared to trains in Europe the compartment was huge and it had private bathroom. Three fans on the ceiling. Seats/bearths with synthetic leather uppholstery and no sheets. Dust. Through the provinces where nobody has gone before. Remote Pakistani backwaters, along the North-Western Frontier Province border. All the other trains go via civilized Lahore. Train went ridiculously fast and was rattling and shaking so hard it felt it must derail any minute.

We arrived to Rawalpindi exactly on time. Engine driver was blowing as often as the bus drivers do. There was no dining car and nobody was selling food or drinks at the stations.