Classic route
Jaffar Express
Quetta → Peshawar · Pakistan
Pakistan’s longest through service tops the Bolan Pass at Kolpur (1,790 m), then follows the Indus corridor 1,632 km to the gate of the Khyber.
Pakistan’s great north–south marathon leaves Quetta at 1,680 m, tops the Bolan Pass at Kolpur and then falls through a staircase of tunnels and horseshoes to the Indus plain, before running the length of the country to Peshawar in about 35 hours. The route is dense with frontier history, from Sibi’s desert junction to the Lansdowne spans at Rohri and the girder bridge over the Indus at Attock. Militant attacks in 2025 halted it only briefly; it still runs daily.
Along the way
- Bolan Pass gorges below Kolpur
- Sibi’s desert junction
- Indus crossing at Rohri–Sukkur
- Multan’s shrine skyline
- Lahore Junction’s Raj-era platforms
- Attock bridge over the Indus
How this line was checked
- Line drawn from 3 OpenStreetMap relations, their own nodes end to end: relation 5886638 (386 km), relation 19846006 (282 km), relation 6122567 (170 km) — 838 km of the route between them
- Checked against OpenStreetMap: 98.3% of this line lies within 250 m of real track (median 9 m); the longest stretch away from it is 9 km
- The operator publishes this line's timetable: Pakistan Railways — a place to look it up, not a check of our drawing
- Wikipedia has an article for this line
- See for yourself: open this line on the map with OpenStreetMap's own railway drawn underneath it
Questions and answers
How long is the Jaffar Express?
The Jaffar Express runs 1,632 km from Quetta to Peshawar.
How long does the Jaffar Express take?
The fastest scheduled journey is 35 h 10 min for the 1,632 km. That is an average of 46 km/h end to end. The line's top service speed is 110 km/h.
Who runs the Jaffar Express?
Pakistan Railways, with AC sleeper, business & economy coaches.
How old is the Jaffar Express?
The line has been in service since 2003. That is the year the atlas dates it from: for a modern brand running over an older railway, it is the railway's date, not the brand's.
How high does the Jaffar Express climb?
1,790 m above sea level at its highest point.
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