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Pakistan

	Above:  A key stage in the journey is the excellent weekly Istanbul-Tehran train, the 'Trans-Asia Express'... Photo courtesy of Bob Johnson.

There have been several news articles lately about the possibility of train travel from London to Pakistan, India or even Dhaka in Bangladesh, prompted by Calcutta-Dhaka trains resuming after 40 years and the planned completion later this year of the final gap in the rails between Bam and Zahedan in southeast Iran.  It's true that if and when the Bam-Zahedan section is finally completed (it's been allegedly "under construction" for decades) the rails will indeed stretch all the way from St Pancras to Karachi, Lahore, Delhi & Dhaka, with just a short gap across the Bosphorus in Istanbul.  You can't just buy a London-Delhi train ticket and hop on, far from it:  Such a 2- or 3-week trip should not be undertaken lightly, as it will take a lot of D.I.Y. organisation (including all the bureaucracy involved in getting an Iranian visa), and there are security concerns with bandit attacks in southeast Iran.  But for more adventurous travellers willing to brave this, it promises to be an epic trip.

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This page outlines the best routes, timetables, costs and how to go about putting such a journey together.  Please remember it's not a tour or a package, just some guidance in putting your own independent trip together using scheduled train services across Europe and Asia.

Route map   Route, timetable, costs    Planning   Booking

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Route map...

Timetable & costs...

The itinerary shown here assumes you're travelling eastbound, but it would work exactly the same way westbound:

• Days 1-4:  London-Istanbul:  Travel from London to Istanbul (3 nights) by train.  There are daily departures via a choice of routes, including London-Brussels-Vienna-Budapest-Bucharest or London-Paris-Vienna-Budapest-Belgrade-Istanbul.  The whole journey (which involves at least 6 separate trains) can be booked via several UK European rail ticketing agencies in the UK, and we're talking a minimum of £270 one-way, £450 return.  See the London to Turkey page for times, fares, how to buy tickets.

• Days 5-8:  Istanbul-Tehran:  Take an evening ferry across the Bosphorus to Haydarpasa station on the Asian side and travel from Istanbul to Tehran in Iran on the comfortable weekly 'Trans-Asia Express' (3 days), see the London to Iran page.  This train departs every Wednesday, so your timetable will need to be built around this.  We're talking £40 each way including sleeper, plus maybe £15 booking fee.

• Day 9: Tehran-Kerman:  Travel from Tehran to Kerman in southeast Iran by daily overnight train leaving Tehran at 16:45 and arriving at Kerman at 05:50 next morning.  The train has comfortable air-conditioned sleepers (4-berth compartments).  There's also an earlier train if this train is full.  Times and fares can be confirmed at www.rajatrains.com.  Fares are very cheap, less than £10, though an agency may charge more.

• Day 10: Kerman-Bam:  The railway was extended a further 225km to Bam in 2004, so change trains at Kerman onto the 08:30 connecting train to Bam, arriving 11:30.  The journey takes you through spectacular desert.  The fare is only a few pounds.

• Day 10: Bam-Zahedan:  There is then a gap in the railway line, from Bam to Zahedan in deepest southeast Iran, towards the Pakistan border.  This section of line is under construction and due to be completed in late 2008, but I'll expect it when I see it.  It's not yet clear what train service will be run over the new line - possibly from Kerman to Zahedan, maybe even Kerman to Quetta, perhaps Bam to Quetta or even Tehran to Quetta, maybe weekly, maybe daily, maybe several times per week, who knows.  Details have yet to be released.  In the meantime, you'll need to take a bus from Kerman or Bam to Zahedan .  A bus reportedly leaves Kerman daily at 20:00, calls at Bam a few hours later and arrives Zahedan at 04:00 next morning.  The fare is just a few pounds.

• Day 11+:  Zahedan-Quetta:  From Zahedan, a mixed passenger and goods train leaves on the 3rd & 17th of every month at 08:30, arriving in Quetta (in Pakistan) at 15:20 the next day.  This train consists of several very basic passenger seats cars attached to a freight train, with no sleeping berths or restaurant (the more frequent Taftan Express on this route, which had sleepers, was withdrawn due to security problems a few years ago).  Bring plenty of food and above all, lots of drinking water, as it gets very hot in the desert and there's nothing available on board.  As an alternative, there are also regular overnight buses on this route, but the train will show you great desert scenery in daylight - treat it as an adventure.  Expect an arrival in Quetta 3-6 hours late.  IMPORTANT:  Please check locally that the twice-monthly train is running, as there have been reports that even the twice-monthly train has been temporarily suspended because of bombing.  If it isn't running, buses may be available as an alternative.  If you have more information that might help other travellers, please contact me. 

• Day 13+:  Quetta-Lahore:  From Quetta, the 'Quetta Express' runs daily trains with comfortable air-conditioned sleepers to Lahore, taking 24 hours, see the Pakistan page for times and fares.  Expect this to cost less than £20.

• Day 15+:  Lahore-Amritsar:  From Lahore there is a twice weekly train, the 'Samjhota EXpress',  taking 7 hours (see the Pakistan page eastbound, see above westbound) or daily taxis/buses to Amritsar in India, 46km away.  The time taken is down to the border formalities, not the distance!  Spend the night in Amritsar, an perhaps visit the Golden Temple.

• Day 16+:  Amritsar-Delhi:  There are regular daily trains from Amritsar to Delhi, see above for information on Indian train travel.

• Onwards to Dhaka in Bangladesh:  Take the prestigious overnight 'Rajdhani Express' from Delhi to Calcutta, and the new 'Maitree Express' train (currently running Saturdays & Sundays only, an all-day journey) or daily buses from Calcutta to Dhaka in Bangladesh.

• Onwards to Kathmandu in Nepal:  Take a train from Delhi to Gorakhpur then a bus, see the Nepal page for more info.

• Onwards to Burma, Thailand, China:  Unfortunately, there are no easy overland routes from India or Bangladesh into either Burma (Myanmar) or Thailand.  It's possible, visas and permits permitting, to travel to Kathmandu in Nepal then take a $300 tour (you can't go independently, it's not allowed) across the Himalayas to Tibet then a train into China, see the Nepal page.  For overland travel from Europe to China the easy way, see the Trans-Siberian page.

• Read through the arrangements for getting an Iranian visa on the Iran page.  It's quite bureaucratic, but do-able.

• You'll also need to understand visa requirements for Pakistan & India, particularly any 'onward ticket' requirements which annoyingly assume everyone travels by air so can pre-book everything.  Read the visa pages on the Pakistan and Indian embassy websites carefully, and if necessary call them to ask advice.  Buying refundable air tickets then cancelling them is one dodge to get round such requirements, if necessary.  To be honest, the visa requirements are likely to be the most difficult part of making this trip, sorting out the transport arrangements is the easy bit!

• I'd suggest planning the trip out carefully before you start to book anything, using a simple spreadsheet, so you can see which days you'll be in which place.  For advice on planning in this way, see  How to plan an itinerary & budget.

• The Istanbul-Tehran train only runs once a week, on Wednesday nights, and together with the twice-monthly train (which will perhaps run more frequently when the Bam-Zahedan line is completed) this will probably determine the rest of your timetable.

• Each leg is ticketed separately, even on the London-Istanbul section, so you can stop off wherever you like for as long as you like, be it Paris or Vienna or Budapest or Istanbul or Tehran.  Where, how often, and for how long you stop off on the way is entirely your decision.

• Check the Foreign Office advice on Iran and Pakistan at www.fco.gov.uk.  Although this errs on the paranoid side, the advice should be carefully considered.

• If you want to research this trip further, buy a copy of the Lonely Planet Istanbul to Kathmandu guide, which covers Turkey, Iran, Pakistan, India and Nepal.

• The critical administrative issue is getting an Iranian visa.  See the Iran page for advice on agencies in Iran to contact for this.

• You'll also need to arrange visas for Pakistan and India.  Turkish tourist visas can be bought when the train reaches the Turkish frontier, so this isn't a problem.

• London-Istanbul train tickets can all be arranged through a UK European rail ticketing agency such as DB's UK office or europeanrail.com.  See the London to Turkey page for more advice and information on booking this journey.

• Istanbul-Tehran train tickets can be arranged through an Istanbul travel agency such as Tur-Ista, see the Iran page.

• The agency you use to obtain support for your Iranian visa may be able to organise the Tehran-Kerman-Bam trains, and perhaps the Kerman/Bam to Zahedan bus and train ticket from Zahedan to Quetta.  If they can't do the train out of Iran, you can book this at the station in Zahedan, but check that you can still get a visa without onward tickets.

• Trains within Pakistan and India are most easily left until your arrival in those countries, and booked at the ticket office.

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If anyone has any more information, an account of this journey, photos or travel reports that would be useful for this page, please e-mail me!

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