Pakistan and Iran have decided to resume a fortnightly passenger train service between the two countries by September 2018. The decision was made at a meeting of rail officials from the two countries in Pakistan on Thursday. Zahedan Railways Director General Majid Arjouni led the Iranian delegation and Pakistan Railways’ Board Secretary Zubair Shafi Ghauri chaired the meeting.
The passenger train service will run between Quetta and Mashhad or Qom, and will largely cater to the needs of pilgrims during the lunar month of Muharram (Sep. 10-Oct. 9, 2018), PakTribune reported.
Earlier, an international passenger and freight service used to be operated twice a month by the Pakistan Railways between Quetta and Zahedan. The route would take 33 hours to cover a distance of 732 km between the two cities.
Pakistan’s Railways Ministry has decided to start running 15 freight trains between Quetta and Zahedan as per the demands of the business community. Its rail authorities will soon inform their Iranian counterparts about the agreed upon date for running the trains.
Pakistan Railways officials said they wanted to introduce specialized containers for the transport of liquefied petroleum gas from Iran, for which they also offered concessions in the freight structure.
To promote trade, the officials offered further concessions in their freight structure.
Add new comment
Read our comment policy before posting your viewpoints