Quetta: Pakistan Railways has temporarily suspended the Jaffar Express service between Quetta and Peshawar for four days, from 9 to 12 November, citing heightened security threats in Balochistan.

Railway officials said the decision was taken as a precautionary measure following advice from security and intelligence agencies to safeguard passengers, railway personnel, civilians and key rail infrastructure.

The suspension is expected to disrupt travel plans for thousands of passengers who rely on the Jaffar Express as an affordable means of transport between the two cities.

The move comes months after a deadly insurgent attack in March, when the banned Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) hijacked the Jaffar Express carrying 380 passengers. The two-day standoff in a mountainous region claimed 26 lives before security forces rescued 354 passengers and killed 33 insurgents.

Since then, the train has been repeatedly targeted in a string of attacks. In October, several people were injured when a blast on the railway track derailed five bogies in Sindh province. In September, an explosion in Balochistan’s Mastung area damaged a coach and derailed six others, injuring 12 passengers.

Earlier in August, four people were wounded when an improvised explosive device derailed six coaches in Mastung. Just days earlier, on 4 August, the pilot engine sent for track clearance came under gunfire near Kolpur, an assault later claimed by the BLA.

The Jaffar Express also suffered derailments in Sindh in July and June due to separate bomb explosions, though no fatalities were reported.

Last November, a suicide bombing at Quetta railway station killed at least 26 people and left dozens injured.

Security analysts warn that insurgent groups have increasingly exploited Balochistan’s remote and rugged landscape to target trains, convoys and railway infrastructure, posing a growing challenge for law enforcement and transport authorities in the region.