LAHORE, Jan 25: A full-dress trial run on the Mirpurkhas-Khokhrapar section up to the Zero Point railway station will be conducted by the Pakistan Railways on Jan 28, it is learnt. “Sindh governor Ishratul Ibad, railways minister Mian Shamim Haider and senior PR officers will be on board the trial run of the train,” an official working on the Khokhrapar-Munabao rail link resumption plan told Dawn by phone on Wednesday.

The train would be run at a speed of 40km per hour, the official said and added lack of interest on the part of Indian railway authorities might further delay the resumption of the second rail link between the two countries.

“We have conducted two trial runs, and the federal government railways inspector has given us a green signal. We have completed arrangements in our part of the section while no major activity is seen across the border,” he said while requesting anonymity.

Minister Shamim Haider had also complained that the Indian authorities were creating hurdles in this regard.

“The Indians have asked us to start freight train as well, though it was earlier decided that only the passenger service will be resumed,” the minister had told newsmen at the PR headquarters here on Jan 18.

“The Pakistan Railways cannot meet the demand of its Indian counterpart. It is beyond our purview. Such matters are decided at governments level,” he had said.

“However, if the freight train is started as well, we can recover in two years the Rs1 billion spent on track replacement on the section,” he said.

Meanwhile, a team comprising senior officers of immigration and customs will be visiting the Zero Point railway station on Thursday (today) to inspect the arrangements their departments have made to facilitate the passengers.

An understanding to revive the service from Feb 1 was reached after two-day talks between railway authorities of the two South Asian neighbours on Jan 6. It was also decided to sign an agreement on modalities of running the train, and an Indian delegation was due here on Jan 23 for the purpose.

“The scheduled visit of the Indians was postponed till Feb 4, and now we have been conveyed that they may come on Feb 11,” a senior officer of the Pakistan Railways said.

The replacement of 135km meter gauge track with broad gauge from Mirpurkhas to Zero Point (border), which is some eight kilometres from Khokhrapar, was started in mid-May last year. Simultaneously started both from the ends of Khokhrapar and Mirpurkhas, the track replacement was completed in the third week of December last year.

A decision to resume the rail link, severed in the September 1965 Indo-Pakistan war, was taken during the visit of President Pervez Musharraf to India in April last year.

Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz has directed the railways authorities to complete the project by year-end by extending the line for another 10km up to Munabao in Rajasthan to reestablish a second Indo-Pakistan train service.

The resumption of the Khokhrapar-Munabao rail link would minimize the journey between Pakistan and India to five hours. At present, people have to travel through Lahore.