India and Pakistan on Thursday decided in principle to introduce freight services in the Munabao-Khokhrapar rail sector and increase the frequency of freight trains between Wagah and Attari to facilitate cross-border movement of goods.
The decision comes after three-day talks between officials of the two countries in New Delhi in pursuance of the third round of Composite Dialogue held in Islamabad in March 2006.
While 20 to 22 freight trains are running every month between the two countries on Wagah-Attari border, "we also discussed introduction of such trains in Munabao-Khokhrapar sector to improve trade, commerce and people to people contacts," Ashok Gupta, advisor (Traffic) Indian Railways and Ali Arif, additional general manager (Freight), Pakistan Railways, said.
The two sides deliberated at length on increasing the number of goods trains running between the two countries in the Wagah-Attari sector to two per day, they told reporters after signing the minutes of the talks.
The officials said the two sides "had agreed, in principle," on these issues.
Besides introduction of special type of rolling stock like flatbed wagons for carrying containers, electrification of railway line between Amritsar and Lahore was also discussed, they said.
During the talks, aimed at reviewing the train operations between the two countries, they said only reserved berths will be available on Samjhauta and Thar Express trains.
The Indian delegation also proposed augmenting the services of Thar Express and making available the passenger lists of both the trains in advance on reciprocal basis for expeditious immigration clearance at the station, Gupta said.
