Passengers rejoice as train service resumes from Cantt Station.

Byline: Shazia Hasan

KARACHI -- The main gates to the Cantonment Railway Station remained closed on Wednesday as Pakistan Railways, which had stopped running their trains due to the countrywide coronavirus pandemic lockdown, resumed its passenger service after a gap of 56 days.

The Railways police gestured for the private and hired vehicles to drop off their passengers at the station gates because no vehicle was allowed inside. The people with their luggage formed a queue outside, though keeping a four to five feet distance from one another before being allowed inside, one by one.

Inside there were more queues and lines, before the sanitising walk-through gates, before getting one's temperature checked, before getting sprayed with disinfectants in case one came through the side entrance to the platform with big squares marked out with yellow masking tape for them to stand in.

As was feared earlier that all standard operating procedures would be violated by a rush of travellers, nothing of the sort happened. In fact there were not that many people at the station to begin with.

Trains remained suspended for 56 days in an effort to slow down progress of the coronavirus pandemic

'That's because we only allowed booking for 60 per cent of the train,' a spokesperson of the Pakistan Railways explained to Dawn. 'The first train leaving the station, the Awam Express, had 1,068 tickets but we only allowed booking for 640 passengers,' he added.

Asked if resuming passenger train service like this would result in a huge loss for Railways, he nodded. 'Yes, it would but we are doing this to facilitate the public.'

A sense of relief

Meanwhile, the passengers expressed a sense of peace and relief on the trains running again. 'My sister-in-law in Mehrabpur lost her husband in a motorcycle accident two months ago and we have been aching to see her and the children all this while. At least we will be able to be with them for Eid now,' said Munira Khatoon from her compartment window.

'Of course, we will not be celebrating Eid but seeing one's family around one in times of pain gives strength to bear the loss. He was a young man and they have five little children. We spoke many times over the phone and also on video chat but it is not the same as being there in person,' she said. 'Thank God, the train service resumed when it did. Otherwise it would have been a very sad and lonely time for my sister-in-law and her orphaned children.'

Awam Express, which left the...