The train was making one of its frequent stops in the middle of nowhere and for no apparent reason (we weren’t near a station) and so I decided to get off for a bit. I also remember making friends, albeit not in the conventional manner. The train to Quetta in Pakistan in March 1995 Our train carriage was beaten-up at best, there was nowhere to lay down and get some sleep and during the night the temperature dropped and it was freezing cold. I don’t remember there being a bus option but I do remember the train journey being exactly as Lonely Planet described it. If you’re someone who enjoys meeting people, isn’t fussed by hardship (carriages are simple with wooden seats and no sleepers) and has plenty of time, you’ll probably enjoy it. The long, remote, dusty, sometimes cold and often uncomfortable train trip between Zahedan and Quetta, in Pakistan, is guaranteed to be a story you’ll tell until you die. Lonely Planet, on their website, describes the train journey from Zāhedān to Quetta as follows: In the morning we made our way to the railway station and boarded the carriage that was to be our home for at least the next 30 hours.

It was horrible and we couldn’t wait to leave. It was like a scene out of Arabian Nights with shady characters on every street corner watching our every move. Not that many years ago, Zāhedān was called Dozda, which translates as Thieves, and having spent the afternoon of our arrival wandering through its streets, I can tell you it is not the sort of place you want to spend any time in unless you absolutely have to. I arrived in Zāhedān with my then-girlfriend in May 1995 in order to catch the twice-monthly train to Quetta in Pakistan. The city is hot, dusty and practically lawless and the only reason to go there is because it is the closest place to the only legal crossing point between Iran and Pakistan at Mirjaveh/Taftan. Zāhedān is the capital of Iran’s southeast Sistan and Baluchistan province and is located near the tri-point of the borders between Iran, Pakistan and Afghanistan. Taking the train from Zāhedān in Iran to Quetta in Pakistan

Train to pakistan