NEW DELHI, Jan 6: Pakistan and India on Friday agreed to revive the Khokhrapar-Munabao train service from Feb 1, it was officially announced.

The decision to revive the service, severed in 1965 war, was reached in two days of talks between officials from railways ministries of the two countries.

“Initially, it will be a weekly service,” the Indian delegation leader Ashok Gupta, adviser (traffic) to railway ministry, told reporters. Depending on the traffic the decision on frequency would be reviewed, he said.

By a coincidence perhaps, the announcement came within days of a decision by India’s cricket authorities to go ahead with a five-day Test match in Karachi brushing aside previous security concerns.

But it also came in the wake of new difficulties the two sides seem to be having in reopening their consulates in Karachi and Mumbai. The train link and consulates were due to have resumed at the start of the new year according to the decision of Indian and Pakistani leaders made in April last year.

Officials said that according to Friday’s agreement the rake for the service would be provided alternatively by Indian and Pakistan railways on a six-monthly basis. For the first six months, the Pakistan train will cross into India. Thereafter, the Indian train will cross into Pakistan to zero point railway station near Khokhrapar.

An Indian delegation will visit Pakistan later this month for signing an agreement on modalities of running the train.

The passenger fare for the train called ‘Thar Express’ for the Indian segment would be finalized at this month’s meeting in Pakistan, Mr Gupta said while indicating that it would be in line with the one running between Amritsar and Lahore.

Railway officials explained that passengers would not have to take another train at zero point but would travel further to Khokhrapar located at a distance of 10km from where they could take connecting services to other Pakistani cities.

Mr Gupta also said that the two sides were not ruling out freight services on this route at a later stage. He said the agreement to be signed later this month would be for a three-year period with a provision for revision in the interregnum.

Mr Gupta said the talks were held in a “cordial and constructive atmosphere”.

Pakistan Railways General Manager Saleemur Rehman Akhoond, who led a 10-member delegation, said the metre-gauge stretch in Khokhrapar was converted into broad gauge in a record eight-month period.

Minutes of the two-day meeting were signed by Mr Gupta and Mr Akhoond.

The resumption of the second rail link is expected to cut the journey by several hours from Sindh to Rajasthan. The two countries already have a rail link between New Delhi and Lahore.

Agencies add: A member of the Pakistani delegation said: “The purpose is to give connectivity to the people of the two countries. It is a historic occasion.”

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