12 January 2004	Monday	19 Ziqa'ad 1424

LAHORE, Jan 11: The Pakistan Railways will issue tickets for eight Indian cities when Samjhota Express resumes its operation after a break of two years on Jan 15.

The renovated rake of 10 coaches will have first and economy classes. The train will leave the Lahore station for Atari (India) through Wagah at 8am (PST) on Mondays and Thursdays. It will depart Atari for Wagah at 2:30pm (IST) the same afternoon.

The five-year agreement signed between Pakistan and Indian railway authorities in the third week of December 2003 says that frequency of the train operation could be enhanced according to the increase in the number of passengers.

Authorities of both the countries may issue tickets for eight railway stations each. The fare rate will be what the railway authorities charge in their respective countries.

Tickets may be purchased for Amritsar, Delhi, Kanpur, Lucknow, Aligarh, Ilahabad, Saharanpur and Muradabad from the Lahore station 48 hours before the departure of the train.

Fare for these destinations is (first class): Rs725, Rs1,132, Rs1,093, Rs875, Rs1,264, Rs585, and Rs516, respectively. For the economy class the fare table is Rs74, Rs132, Rs229, Rs221, Rs180, Rs254, Rs185, and Rs169, respectively.

This included Rs50 charged for Lahore-Atari travel and the reservation fee. A railway spokesman said that Samjhota passengers would not be provided return ticket facility because there was no provision for it in the agreement.

He said the Indian authorities had rejected a proposal for enhancing the train route from Atari to Amritsar. AC Lower coaches could be introduced in the Samjhota Express if both the railways authorities decided that the required number of passengers were available for such a coach, the spokesman said.

Both the countries will provide train rake for six months each. For the first six months, the Pakistan Railways will offer the rake as Indian authorities have refused to provide the coaches first though it was their turn as Pakistan had exhausted its turn when the rail link was severed two years ago.

The Samjhota Express had stopped running on Dec 31, 2001, when New Delhi unilaterally severed its ties with Islamabad and cut off all air, road and rail links after an attack on its parliament, blaming 'Pakistan-based' militants.

About opening of the Khokharapar-Munabao rail link, the spokesman said that the Pakistan Railways would have to replace its present metre-gauge rails with broad gauge track. The project costing a sum of Rs650 million could be completed in 14 months.

"It is up to Islamabad to decide when to open this link. However, the railway authorities are preparing PC-I of the project which will be sent to the railway ministry for allocation of funds in case the government gives a green signal for executing the plan," he said.