The last Thar Express ran on August 19 and accumulation of water on the tracks between Jodhpur and Barmer district due to heavy rains forced authorities to stop its operation ever since.
ISLAMABAD: The Thar Express, connecting the dusty Indo-Pak border towns of Khokhrapar and Munabao, will be chugging again from February 10 after heavy rainfall in August halted its operation, Pakistan railways officials said.
The last Thar Express ran on August 19 and accumulation of water on the tracks between Jodhpur and Barmer district due to heavy rains forced authorities to stop its operation ever since.
"We have invested Rs two billion on the railway track but it's unfortunate that the Thar Express had to discontinue its services because of the damage caused to the tracks by the rain on the Indian side," Pakistan's Minister for Railways Sheikh Rashid Ahmed was quoted as saying by The News.
Ahmed said the remote Khokhrapar railway station in Pakistan's Tharparkar district bordering Rajasthan would also be re-opened.
"We have got the permission to re-open the Khokhrapar railway station and this will be a historical event," he said.
Ahmed said talks on the resumption of the Thar Express have been held at the foreign ministry level as well as between Muthahida Qaumi Movement leader Farooq Sattar and the Indian officials.
Established in 1870 by the British colonialists, the Khokhrapar railway station was the last post at the Pakistan-India border in Sindh for travelers going to Munabao in Rajasthan. It was closed 41 years ago after the 1965 Indo-Pak war.
The Thar Express is the second link between the two neighbouring countries. The first being the Samjhauta Express which runs between Lahore and Amritsar.
The Thar Express started operations on February 18, 2006.
As many as 1700 people travelled on the train in the initial phase but the number of passengers dropped to 350 on an average during the last two months of its operation because of "cumbersome" customs and immigration formalities.
The total number of Pakistani passengers who traveled to India on the Thar Express during the six months of its operation was 14,033 whereas 15,183 Indian travellers boarded the train.
The earnings of the Railways through the Thar Express were Rs 300,000 per week.
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
)
)
)
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}