NEW DELHI : The current strain in bilateral relations between Indian and Pakistan due to the recent killing of five Indian soldiers by Pakistani troops in the Poonch sector of Jammu and Kashmir has taken its toll on the Samjhauta Express, a bi- weekly train that runs between Delhi and Attari.
The recent killings of the Indian soldiers has adversely affected the number of passengers travelling by the Samjhauta Express, commonly called the Friendship Express with a seating capacity of 720 travellers.
The train has ten coaches, out of which nine are sleepers and one is AC three tier, and ten goods wagons.
The train runs from Delhi on every Sunday and Wednesday at 2305 hrs and reaches the Attari Railway Station at 0715 the next day.
From Attari, it runs on every Monday and Thursday at 2215 hrs and reaches Delhi the next day.
The number of travellers has fallen to as low as 25. During Eid, the train normally runs to its full capacity, but this time the festival could not get enough passengers on board the train from both sides.
On this Eid, only 25 passengers from Pakistan came to India and the same number from India went to Pakistan on August 7 to celebrate the festival.
Northern Railway spokesperson Neeraj Sharma admits that the number of passengers on this train from both sides has fallen drastically.
Ninety-four passengers on August 2 and 130 passengers on August 6 reached Delhi from Attari by the Samjhauta Express.
But after the Poonch incident on August 6, only 25 travellers came to Delhi by this train on August 9.
In a similar way, 70 passengers went from Delhi to Attari on August 4 and as low as 25 passengers on August 7.
For today, only 14 reservations have been made for this train from Delhi, out of which 12 in sleeper class and two in AC three tier.
No booking of tickets has been made from Delhi to Attari on the train for August 14.
For August 18, only two passengers have made their bookings for the sleeper class.
No reservation of seats has been made for August 21 and 25.
The trains from Attari to Delhi on August 12, 15, 19 and 22 have yet to receive any bookings of tickets.
The train’s history goes back to July 22, 1976 and that time it used to travel between Amritsar and Lahore covering a distance of only 42 kilometres. But at present, this train covers a distance of 472 km between Delhi and Attari.
The Samjhauta Express’ services were suspended thrice – once in mid-eighties for a brief period due to militancy in Punjab, second for two years after the December 13, 2001 Parliament attack and third after the assassination of former Pakistan Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto on December 27, 2007.
The Samjhauta Express has been catering to the needs of common people in either countries, who were separated after the partition.
To sour the bilateral relations between India and Pakistan, terrorists attacked the Samjhauta Express near Panipat in Haryana on February 17, 2007 in which 68 passengers, including Pakistani nationals, were killed.
(AGENCIES)
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