This Ordinary Sleeper Train Hides A HUGE SECRET!

This Ordinary Sleeper Train Hides A HUGE SECRET!

Today we’re back in Pakistan 
for a bit of train surfing, and to ride what is definitely 
the WEIRDEST train in the country! This unassuming sleeper train houses 
a BIG secret – a Premium Dining Restaurant – serving a wide variety 
of delicious, freshly cooked food! There’s also a beautiful sunrise seen from the fully opening doors – so let’s 
go and check it all out together! Pakistan had been high on my travel 
bucket list to visit for a long time. There are some epic landscapes, and 
stunning historical sights to behold, and all pretty much empty of tourists. Most people were surprised when I 
said how much I enjoyed travelling here – but it such a friendly country and 
I honestly didn’t feel unsafe at anytime. And then there’s unique experiences 
like this too – an ad-hoc cab ride, and a bit of train surfing 
through Karachi city centre. There’s some very lax attitudes 
to Health & Safety here, and you can just jump on a loco and 
be welcomed by the staff and locals. Oh, and did I mention it was AMAZING FUN?! Later on that day, we’re back 
at Karachi City Station – right in the heart of Pakistan’s largest city, 
which is home to over 20 million people. It’s also safe to say that this station, which originally dates back to 
1864, is well past its glory days. A staffed ticket office can 
be found on the left side as you walk in side – and honestly, not a lot else. Tonight we’ll be taking the 
25UP service, which departs at 6.50pm from Karachi, northbound to 
Multan, around half way to Islamabad. As well as numbers, all long distance trains 
in Pakistan have names, with ours being the Bahauddin Zakaria Express – named after a 
12 century Muslim scholar, saint and poet. The security is also not the strictest. On the platform is a few little snack 
and drinks shops… a stray dog… some soldiers… and the local postmen 
getting ready to load up our train! Speaking of our train – it 
reverses in to the platform around 20 minutes before scheduled departure time. This is formed of a generator coach, the Premium Dining Coach and one Business 
Class coach, where we’ll be travelling today. The rest of the train is AC Standard 
and Economy Class accommodation, with a total length of around 20 coaches. Hauling us for the whole trip will be this 
Pakistan Railways AGE-30 diesel locomotive. These have a power output of 2,240kW 
(3,000hp) and a top speed of 122km/h (76mph). Being a full-time traveller, one of the 
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partnering with me on this video. I head to the only ‘Business 
Class’ coach on the train, which was labelled No.5, 
despite my ticket saying No.6. After around a minute of discussion 
between these five staff members – I was allowed to board and shown to 
my compartment by one of the guys. There are no accessible facilities 
on this train whatsoever. We’ve booked sole occupancy of this 
6-bed Business Class room for tonight. It’s far from luxurious – but how bad can it be? Let’s check out tonight’s northbound 
route from Karachi, up the Indus Valley, making over 20 intermediate stops, and 
arriving in Multan tomorrow lunchtime. We depart Karachi City Station pretty 
much on-time, just after 6.50pm. The full route is 928km (577mi) 
and is *scheduled* to take 16 hours and 40 minutes of travel 
time, arriving at 1pm tomorrow. I will just say, don’t plan 
any tight connections though… To get this private Business Class compartment, 
we had to buy all 6 beds in the room. One adult ticket costs 6,300 Pakistani 
Rupees (£16.27, €18.87, $22.21), but you can buy any unused beds as 
child tickets, at a 50% discount. Still, this is well worth doing if there’s 2 
or 3 of you travelling – and not too expansive. We spend the first 10 minutes or 
so passing though the city centre, before calling at Karachi Cantt, the main station 
in the city – where most of the passengers join. Now we’re on the move, and it’s dark, very dark 
in the room in fact, because the light is broken. And in fairness to the train staff – they had 
it fixed within about 10 minutes of asking! Bedding is not available, however you can 
rent a small pillow for a 100 Pakistani Rupees (£0.26, €0.30, $0.35). I’m not sure 
if this is an official service though. Normally at this time, I’d do a room tour – 
however as it’s quite dark and I’m quite hungry, I’m going to head to the flagship feature of this train – the Premium Lounge and Restaurant 
Coach, which is just one down from mine. And it looks absolutely fantastic! Totally out of place on this train – but I’ll 
sure be making good use of it! There is a comprehensive menu of many types of 
cuisine – including western options and mocktails. I went for the chicken handi, a couple of 
regular naans and a fresh orange juice. The total price was 1,750 Pakistani 
Rupees (£4.52, €5.24, $6.17), which was reasonable – and it was 
honestly very delicious! On the way back to my room, 
let’s check out the toilets. There are two in every coach, with one being a 
squatty potty… and the other one western style. I’m not sure which was 
better. Or worse in this case. They were both absolutely filthy 
and had no soap or toilet paper, but hey, at least the water worked! One must bring item on trains in this 
part of the world – hand sanitiser! Heading back to my room now to 
settle in for the night – and I found I had a friend who wanted to sleep with me! After swiftly evicting him, and his friend, 
from my pillow, and with my feet on the luggage rack by the door as I was too long 
for the bed – I tried to get some sleep! Good morning! After about 7 hours of broken sleep due to 
the pretty bad ride quality, I awake around 6am to one of the most beautiful sunrise’s I’ve 
ever had the please to witness from a train. These stunning, yet very moody views are made even better by being able to appreciate 
them through the fully open doors! Pakistan’s railway network is a total 
length of 7,789km (4,840mi) of 1,676mm (5ft6in) gauge track. Only around 
15% of this is double tracked though. One of our first stops this 
morning is at Rahim Yar Khan, in the Punjab Province, and home 
to around half a million people. Nearby, stands the remains of the Patan Minara 
monastery which dates back nearly 2,300 years and was part of a much larger ancient 
settlement along the Ghaggar-Hakra River. It’s at this point I also notice that we are running over an hour late 
– but oh well, never mind! Many food vendors also roam the 
train, so I grabbed a coffee for 100 Pakistani Rupees (£0.26, €0.30, $0.35). If you want to check out my review onboard 
Pakistan’s flagship daytime train service, the Green Line Express, then 
click the link above now. The weather has turned very misty now, so let’s have a look at the room in more 
detail, before we head down to breakfast. These 6-berth compartments seem OK, as long 
as you don’t have any uninvited bugs within! The door can be locked, but 
from the inside only. Next to this are the switches for the room 
lights, fan and attendant call bell. There is a shelf above the window, and the top 
bunks are fixed, while the middle ones fold away. Luggage can be stored underneath the bottoms 
bunks, or on the luggage racks by the door. This is also the ladder to get up top. The beds themselves are fairly well 
padded, and so are the backrests. The pillow was also fine – but nothing special. There is a large, fixed table, with a 
couple of drinks holders next to it. Underneath, is the rooms 
only power – two USB-A ports, a missing dustbin and a volume adjustment 
switch, which didn’t do anything. Each bunk has personal reading lights, 
but these only worked when it was dark. The window has full length blackout blinds. Overall, a pretty standard sleeper room. Certainly 
not what I’d describe as ‘Business Class’ though. It could do with a deep clean, and sheets 
should definitely be provided, in my opinion. OK, breakfast time! There was a small hot selection, some cereals, bread and cucumber water. I also 
had a coffee with some biscuits. This all cost 999 Pakistani 
Rupees (£2.58, €2.99, $3.52). The other accommodations on the train are all 
in open dorm style. This one is AC Standard. There is little space, zero privacy, and I can only imagine the heat 
and smells in here if it’s packed. Economy is in the same layout, but with 
no AC – just opening windows and fans. The price is cheap though – less than 
half what one bed is in Business Class. If you want AD-FREE early access to every 
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join button in every video, thank you! We are now approaching the most 
impressive structure on this route – the 650m (2,100ft), 8 section 
Empress Bridge, over the Sutlej River. This impressive colonial-era 
structure dates back to 1878, and was the penultimate link in the 
full Karachi to Lahore railway corridor. The worst rail disaster in Pakistan’s 
history happened on this service in 1990. Near to Sukkur village in Sindh Province, some points were incorrectly set, and 
the Bahauddin Zakaria Express careered in to a 67-car freight train. 307 people 
sadly lost their lives that fateful day. For much of this trip we travel 
at between 90km/h (56mph) and 110km/h (70mph) – and honestly, 
that is plenty fast enough. As I said before, this train certainly 
isn’t going to win any awards for ride comfort – but that is probably 
mostly to do with the track quality. I find it absolutely fascinating 
passing through settlements, both large and small, and just getting a 
small fleeting glimpse of regular people, just living their lives both near to, and 
sometimes quite literally ON the railway. We are now approaching the end of 
today’s journey, so let me summarise this trip from Karachi to Multan with Pakistan 
Railways on the Bahauddin Zakaria Express. Well, it was certainly an 
experience. Definitely not all good, but a trip I will remember for a long time. This morning’s AMAZING sunrise and the Premium 
Lounge Restaurant were definitely the highlights! It’s quite strange that this 
is not on a flagship service, such as the Green Line Express – 
but maybe that’s the future plan? It’s a shame that no bedding is 
included, the train is pretty filthy, especially the toilets, and there 
were even bugs in my compartments! However, the staff were friendly, and overall 
it was good value so if you’re looking for a ‘different’ kind of adventure to travel between 
Multan and Karachi – then this is definitely it! We finally arrive at Multan Cantt around 
1 and a half hours late, just after 1pm. Have you been on any trains 
in Pakistan before? If so, which ones and on which routes? How did you 
find them? Let me know in the comments below! I’m always open to new video ideas, so if you 
have something you’d like to see on the channel, then drop me DM on Instagram, BlueSky or Twitter. Don’t forget to subscribe, thanks for watching 
to the end, and I’ll see you in the next video!

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Today we’re back in Pakistan to ride a train that hide’s a BIG Secret!

We’ll travel from Karachi to Multan onboard the Bahauddin Zakaria Express in a private Business Class compartment. But this train also features a flagship Premium Lounge & Restaurant coach – so come along with me and let’s check it all out together!

#Pakistan #Karachi #Multan #PremiumDining #IndusValley #TrainDoorViews

Date of Filming: 31/1 to 1/2/24
Camera: GoPro Hero 12 Black
Operator: Pakistan Railways
Departure: Karachi, Pakistan
Arrival: Multan, Pakistan
Cost: Business Class – 6,300 Pakistani Rupees (£16.27, €18.87, $22.21)

To check out my review on Pakistan’s FLGASHIPN Green Line Express service, click here: https://youtu.be/jthwCFVRvfc

Here is the link to my 29 hour Pakistan Railways Business Class ‘Tezgam’ Review:

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00:00 – Intro
01:14 – Cab Ride & Train Surfing
01:56 – Arrival at Karachi City Station & Tour
03:14 – Train Arrival & Info
05:45 – Boarding & Route Information
06:51 – Departure & Pricing
08:20 – Premium Dining Dinner
09:39 – Uninvited Guests IN MY BED!
10:30 – Amazing Sunrise #TrainDoorViews
11:24 – Calling at Rahim Yar Khan
12:30 – Business Class Compartment Tour
14:02 – Breakfast & Other Rooms
15:15 – Trip Highlight: The Empress Bridge
16:45 – Trip Summary
17:43- Arrival in Multan & Outro