Away With The Steiners

Overnight Train Islamabad To Karachi: What Is It Really Like? 

Sarah Steiner

We’ve all seen the classic images of train travel in the South Asian continent with crowded carriages, people leaning out the windows and/or perched on the roof.  It doesn’t exactly bode confidence booking the train Islamabad to Karachi!  

But truthfully; it’s not like that.  

Taking an overnight train from Islamabad to Karachi in Pakistan is certainly an adventure.  Though there are a few things that are helpful to know before embarking on such a journey…

Here are all the details of booking and traveling by overnight train Islamabad to Karachi, Pakistan.  

PAKISTAN RAILWAY – Train travel in Pakistan

Pakistan has a long history with railway travel across the southern parts of the country. There are several types of trains. From the business class Green Line train between Islamabad, Lahore, and Karachi, to the historic mail trains that travel out to Quetta.

For tourists, the main lines to take by train in Pakistan are between Islamabad, Lahore and Karachi.

BUYING TICKETS – Train Islamabad to Karachi

Buying tickets for the train Islamabad to Karachi that we wanted to take, was our first challenge.  

We started looking in to options for travel by overnight train in Pakistan a couple of months before we thought we would make the journey.  

But like many train lines in neighbouring India it is not possible to book more than one month in advance.  

It is technically (haha – ‘technically’) possible to book the train online.  

To do this you need to set up an account with Pakistan Railways. For which you need a Pakistan ID document number.  Thus if you are a foreigner it won’t work with your own passport number.  So you will need to ask a local friend to sign up on your behalf using their information.

Not exactly straightforward. 

The other options to purchase a ticket for Pakistan Railways are either to wait until you get there and do it the good old-fashioned way at the ticket booth in person at the railway station.  Or you can go through a travel agent or ticketing agent based in Pakistan. 

We choose to do it this way through an agent.

Albeit this wasn’t all that straightforward either.  

But it did work out (with the support of a bit more research from my end). The agency contact Abdul was able to organise tickets for us that were dropped at our hotel in Islamabad before we travelled. 

View from the train window taking the train from Islamabad to Karachi on Greenline overnight train in Pakistan.
Night time station happenings en route to Karachi.

DEPARTURE STATION – Train Islamabad to Karachi

This is the first major point you need to note when looking in to where you will depart Islamabad from. Is that the overnight train Islamabad to Karachi in fact departs from the station in Rawalpindi.  

Rawalpindi is often referred to as the ‘sister city’ to Islamabad.  

So be sure to double check the station name on your ticket. Show it to your hotel or driver just to be sure you are heading for the right place.  

BOARDING – Rawalpindi

Boarding the train in Rawalpindi is straight forward. Well that was once we got on the correct train!

The check in process is as normal at the station. There are plenty of people to ask about your ticket and which carriage and train you need to be on.  

Rawalpindi Railway Station.

CLASSES – Options from Islamabad to Karachi

There are seven different classes of train travel on offer in Pakistan: 

  1. ACSL –  AC Sleeper
  2. PC – AC  Parlour Car
  3. ACLZ –  AC Business Class
  4. ACL  – AC Standard
  5. ISL  – First Class Sleeper
  6. EC –  Economy Class
  7. SEC  – Second Class

However, not all classes of travel are available on all mainstream train routes.  

Rather there are usually three or four to choose from. 

At the time of our travel by train in Pakistan we understood that the Greenline from Islamabad to Karachi had three options for class of travel:

  1. Economy Seat
  2. Economy Berth
  3. AC Business Class

We booked an AC Business Class cabin – which actually has six berths in.

Our 6-Berth cabin in AC Business Class.

ABOUT THE GREEN LINE. What is the train actually like? 

Overall we had a good experience traveling by overnight train in Pakistan on the Green Line.

We had previously travelled similar journeys in Bangladesh and many in India and so booked the train journey with increased confidence in South Asian train travel.  It was a good adventure! 

It isn’t a luxurious means of travel (by any means).  

But people we met were friendly and price-wise it was comparable to four plane tickets in the same direction.  

Is it safe to take an overnight train in Pakistan? 

People in general seem to love to mention and warn you about safety anywhere in South Asia. So any kind of travel in Pakistan comes with no exception.  

As far as safety and taking an overnight train in Pakistan it is an important consideration.   

Obviously there are different regions of travel with differing levels of safety warnings in Pakistan.

But certainly we all reached the end of our journey on an overnight train from Islamabad to Karachi. So yes, I think the train in Pakistan is safe as long as you take sensible precautions. 

As a side note though the police and tourist police do keep an eye on you. To the point where they often know where you are (or try to know) at all times!

Although we had been forewarned about this, Gavin experienced this firsthand.  

He briefly hopped off at a station somewhere near Lahore to check how long we were stopping for. An officer (maybe off the train) approached him and said outright: “Are you Mr Gavin Steiner?” – and showed him a picture on his phone of Gavin’s passport.  

He then followed up by asking if everything was alright and if we needed anything.  

After which we continued our journey south.  

It was a little odd/disturbing/creepy. But overall, not further concerning. 

Views of Pakistan whizzing on by.

How is the seating and berths Islamabad to Karachi? 

The crowding on the train in Pakistan largely depends on the class. Seats and berths in Business Class are pre-booked and so only a specific number can be purchased.  So these carriages are not overcrowded. 

On some train lines there are spaces in third class for un-reserved seats. Meaning those carriages can be crowded on the day.  

But from what we saw, taking an overnight train in Pakistan is not like the dreaded South-Asian train travel images often portrayed with people crowded on the rooftops!

FOOD – Are meals included in the ticket price? 

Yes. For our Green Line train ticket on the overnight train Islamabad to Karachi we had three meals included in the ticket:

Albeit we actually missed the afternoon snack!

I think that might have been our own fault as they were calling out and we presumed they were selling sandwiches.

Meals on the overnight train Islamabad to Karachi

Note also that dinner was not served until 10:00pm!

Yep. You read that right.

I would recommend stocking up on snacks before your overnight train in Pakistan as we were getting pretty hungry by that time of night.

Gavin leapt off the train at one station near Lahore and with the very kind Pakistani Dad in the neighboring cabin he got some street-food snacks and chips from a station store. 

Breakfast and a basic cup of tea is offered around 06:45am.

Though I have to be honest; we didn’t eat the breakfast.  It was stone cold and not looking very appetizing by the time it arrived.  

The verdict? Meals are provided but highly recommend you pack some snacks! 

Dinner (at 10pm at night) if you’re still awake and hungry?

FOOD – Is food available to purchase?

Yes.  There are occasional snack carts that come through the aisle.  

Sorry to compare again to trains in India but the vendors are not as often – and not as vocal – as they are in their nearby neighbour land.

But it is possible to find small snacks like chips and chocolate bars on the snack carts.  

Or otherwise, if you are game enough you can ask ahead how long the train will be stopping at a station for and leap on and off to grab something from a vendor there. Be quick though!

It was evening by the time we got to Lahore Station from Rawalpindi. But about 20 minutes before Lahore, vendors boarded the train at the previous stops selling pizza to be collected in upcoming Lahore!

At that time we still thought dinner must only be a short while away.

Ha. It wasn’t!

TOILETS – Train Islamabad to Karachi

Wondering what the toilets are like? Seriously?

They are as you would imagine.  

The toilets (actually it was just a singular toilet in our carriage) on the train function but are extremely basic.  

There is no toilet paper or soap provided either. So do plan ahead with that.

BEDDING – What is provided on the train Islamabad to Karachi? 

As far as bedding goes, truthfully not very much was provided on this particular train!  

We asked a few times for sheets and then gave up asking. There were four pillows with average looking pillowcases in our cabin.  Plus four blankets.  

Note that the cabin we booked actually has 6x berths – and we booked the entire cabin.

So I’m not sure how many you get if there are six people.  

But after asking a couple of times about sheets or pillowcases we fast understood they are not offered or provided on this train in Pakistan. 

We made do with scarves and travel towels to cover the pillows. Then we had no choice but to use the blankets provided (which looked passable but not immaculate).  

Just to add to the drama of bedding and linen on this journey; one of the carriage attendants knocked on our door at 01:30am and asked for a blanket because he was cold!

We are still not sure what that was about or if he really did need it more than us. But it gave us a fright and we didn’t have a blanket to share in the first place.

It rather disturbed our so far already-disrupted sleep wondering who would be knocking at that hour of night!

Cheery in our comfortable but very bare cabin with a few chais to take care of.

PACKING – What to pack for the train?

Aside from the usual travel gear, these are a few things I though to mention that you would be much better off bringing with you on the train:

ARRIVING IN KARACHI – Disembarking

So you’ve made it by overnight train from Islamabad to Karachi?  Success!   

Otherwise if you are getting close then I’d say it’s a good idea to keep an eye on Google Maps. Or talk to someone local on the train to know how much further it is to your station.  

Our train was delayed by over two hours (making it a 22 hour journey in total) which we didn’t initially realise.  

However after figuring it out on the map and seeing the much-later signs for Hyderabad we relaxed and let the final (additional) hours of the journey roll on by.

Enjoy the adventure! 

Where to stay in Lahore, Islamabad and Multan 

These are the hotels where we have stayed each time during our travel in Pakistan and can recommend for your trip. 

The spacious room at Grand Millennium Hotel on Davis Road in Lahore. 

Read more about travel in Pakistan

More about planning for travel in Pakistan and beyond

These are the companies we use and can recommend for planning and booking travel. 

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