As part of first private investment of millions of rupees in the ailing state railways, the Business Express reached Karachi cantt station at 9:45am, 15 minutes ahead of the scheduled time. The train left Lahore at 3.30pm on Friday for its first journey.

Thirteen carriages have been lovingly restored into a sleek sleeper to ply the 1,200 kilometres (800 miles) between Pakistan's two biggest cities, Lahore and Karachi, on an 18-hour journey that once used to take upwards of 30 hours.