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India, Pakistan's second rail link to start Feb 1

Posted on: Friday, 6 January 2006, 10:08 CST

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - Indian and Pakistan agreed on Friday to start a second cross-border train service next month as the nuclear-armed neighbors nudge a slow-moving peace process forward.

The weekly train service between the border village of Munabao in India's western desert state of Rajasthan and Khokrapar in southern Pakistan will resume on Feb 1, officials said.

The service was cut 40 years ago after the tracks were bombed in the 1965 India-Pakistan war.

"The purpose is to give connectivity to the people of the two countries. It is a historic occasion," said a member of the Pakistani railway delegation, who declined to be named, at the end of two-day talks in New Delhi with Indian officials.

"This is our public commitment," Ashok Gupta, leader of the Indian delegation, told reporters in New Delhi, adding the train's frequency and coaches would be increased if demand rose.

India and Pakistan are already linked by a train service between the cities of Amritsar and Lahore, further to the north.

The new train, called the "Thar Express" after the Thar desert in parts of India's Rajasthan state and Pakistan's Sindh province, will run on a 12.5 km (8 mile) route and is expected to carry about 400 passengers.

Customs checks will be carried out at Munabao and Zero Point which is on the Pakistani side of the international border.

India will send a team to Islamabad later this month to finalize the technical details, Gupta said.

Both countries have strengthened transport, cultural, sporting and commercial links in their two-year-old peace process but have made little headway in resolving their main dispute of Kashmir, the cause of two of their three wars.

Source: REUTERS

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