KARACHI, Feb 14: About 320 passengers will travel by the Thar Express to India on Feb 18, marking the opening of the Khokhrapar-Monabao trail link.

Sindh Governor Dr Ishratul Ebad will bid farewell to the passengers, Salahuddin Haider, Advisor to Sindh Chief Minister on Information and Archives, said at a press conference on Tuesday.

The train comprising seven bogies will start its journey from Karachi Cantonment station at 11pm on Feb 17 and reach Zero Point at 8am on the following morning.

The passengers will board the train again after immigration and customs procedure, which is likely to take two to three hours, after which the train will cross into India.

The train would re-enter Pakistan later with Indian passengers, said Mr Haider.

All the coachers would be of economy class, he said.

He said an AC unit had to be included in the carriages for an AC coach and in view of track being new, increasing the number of coaches was not possible, he said.

He said two bogies of the train had been reserved for journalists from Karachi, Islamabad and Lahore.

When asked why the service was being launched with inadequate arrangements, he said it was the public demand and passengers were ready to face hardships during the journey.

Due to a recent accident, the test run could not be completed, he said.—APP