Agreement signed to run Samjhauta Express for three more yrs

Agreement signed to run Samjhauta Express for three more yrs
EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE

NEW DELHI, JAN 21: India and Pakistan today formally agreed to continue running the Samjhauta Express for another three years, putting all controversy to rest.

Signing the agreement after five-day long deliberations, the two countries also decided to upgrade the services by introducing economy-sleeper class coach in the train. ``This has mainly been decided to provide some kind of comfort to passengers who can afford to pay a little more,'' an official said. At present, a person can reach Lahore from Delhi in a little over Rs 100.

The delegation of Pakistani railway officials, however, did not raise the contentious issue of taking the Samjhauta Express up to Amritsar, as per the original agreement. The train, for reasons of national security is terminated at Attari, just inside the Indian border.

The agreement, reviewing rail communication between the two neighbours, was signed today by Additional Member (Traffic) S.S. Bhandari, heading the Indian delegation and Additional General Manager (Freight) Abdul Qayyum from Pakistani Railways, and will come into force with immediate effect. As per the revised agreement the train would continue to run as a bi-weekly service between the two countries.It was also decided to continue the trend of running Pakistani rakes for six months and the Indian ones for the next six -- the Pakistani train would run between Lahore and Attari for six months and then the Indian train would do the same for the other six.

The Indian railways accepted the proposal of its Pakistani counterpart to permit attachment of up to two extra coaches to facilitate clearance of heavy rush of passengers, an official spokesman of railways said.

The running of freight trains between the two countries was also discussed in the prolonged meetings. Both sides agreed that there was a need to increase the present level of interchange of about one freight train per day between the two countries. It was decided that divisional level teams of both the railways would be deputed to examine the factors affecting the interchange performance and initiate remedial measures.

The Pakistan Railways also agreed to accept eight-wheeler BCX wagons of Indian Railways. These new technology wagons, are safer, faster and have a higher capacity. This will facilitate interchange of higher tonnage for freight trains.

Some mutual back-slapping also took place at the end of the meeting. Bhandari, said the ``positive and constructive'' approach shown by the Pakistan officials had resulted in culmination of the agreement. Returning the praise, Qayyum said it was after many years that instead of resorting to temporary measures, both the sides had worked out an agreement which would settle all issues that had been discussed from time to time, and facilitate smooth operation of train services between the two countries.

A bilateral agreement for rail communication between the two countries was entered into in 1976 and kept on extending from time to time till 1991 when, after a review, a fresh agreement was signed. The new agreement was reviewed by the two governments in 1994 and 1997. The 1991 agreement was valid up to July 7, 2000 and it was agreed upon by the two railways to extend it up to January 7 this year and then again up to February 7.

``Such comprehensive reviews and revisions were undertaken in 1982 and 1991, and the current exercise also had similar objective of evaluating the experience since '91, and then crafting a revised document in consonance with the current expectations and aspirations,'' the railway spokesman added.