LAHORE:Samjhuta Express train between Pakistan and India resumed service on Monday as tension between the two countries has started easing.
A Samjhuta Express train, carrying 195 passengers, departed from Lahore for Attari in India, today. The Indian railway authorities have already given green signal to Pakistan for resuming the service.
According to ministry of foreign affair, passengers had returned back home after the train was halted from leaving Lahore Railways Station to Indian city Atari on February 28.
The Samjhauta Express runs between Lahore in Pakistan and Attari in India. Until the reopening of the Thar Express, this was the only rail connection between the two countries. The train was started on 22 July 1976 following the Shimla Agreement and ran between Amritsar and Lahore, a distance of about 42 km. Following disturbances in Punjab in the late eighties, due to security reasons Indian Railways decided to terminate the service at Attari, where customs and immigration clearances take place. On 14 April 2000, in an agreement between Indian Railways and Pakistan Railways (PR), the distance was revised to cover just under three km.
It was a daily train when the service started, and changed to a bi-weekly schedule in 1994. Earlier the rakes were returned to the home country the same day but later in 2000 the rake remained overnight at that location.
Its termini are Lahore in Pakistan and Delhi in India. The border crossing takes place between Wagah in Pakistan and Attari in India. Originally, this was a through service with the same rake going all the way between the termini; later the Pakistani rake stopped at Attari at which point passengers had to change trains.
Now there is a train from Delhi to Attari where all passengers alight for customs and immigration. This train does not have any commercial stops between Delhi and Attari. The actual Samjhauta Express runs from Attari to Lahore, although the passengers are checked at Wagah, the first station on the Pakistani side. The train service was set up with an agreement between Indian Railways (IR) and Pakistan Railways (PR) to alternately use an Indian and a Pakistani rake and locomotive for the train, six months at a time.