Samjhota Express to resume service today

LAHORE: The train service between India and Pakistan will resume on Thursday (today) after being suspended on Monday due to security concerns over the Haryana riots.

With the indo-Pak relations already in a fragile state, the Indian authorities did not take a chance over the security of passengers and suspended the arrival of passengers to India till the situation improved.

On Wednesday, Pakistan Railways (PR) authorities were notified by their Indian counterparts that it would be to operate the train on schedule on Thursday. On the other hand, the bus service will operate on schedule on Friday (tomorrow).

Meanwhile, Pakistan Railways does not have any mechanism to inform the passengers in case of suspension or resumption of train operations between Pakistan and India or any other route in the country.

The Samjhota Express operates on Monday and Thursday, while the Dosti Bus Service on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. The violent riots and protests in Haryana that killed 12 people, caused security concerns regarding the rail and road travel between Pakistan on Sunday night.

The Railways could not communicate the situation to the 72 passengers (12 Indian and 60 Pakistani nationals) scheduled to travel to India because of the absence of any mobile short-message-service (SMS) mechanism. Consequently, all the passengers showed up at the railway station on Monday, only to face the disappointment and inconvenience after being told to return to their hometowns.

It was not just a matter of inconvenience for some, as they told this correspondent that they had planned their finances in accordance with their leaving dates and thus were out of money to afford the travel to the city where they stayed and back to Lahore, let alone another day’s stay in Pakistan.

‘SMS intimation system’ is not even an expensive option and is considered among basics of customer service when it comes to the transport industry – be it air, road or rail – in the current times of mobile communication, and even in developing countries.

While answering the question regarding any chances of the train operating on Thursday, the spokesperson had said, “We cannot give exact timeframe for train’s departure to India. Indians say they cannot accept the train due to riots in Haryana. We are waiting for Indian reply.” Therefore, the passengers weren’t sure if the train would leave for India on Thursday or not.

The Indian authorities gave PR the go ahead to operate the Samjhota Express on its scheduled time on Thursday, late on Wednesday noon. The passengers looking to travel on the train, however, will not be informed regarding the development as there is no system to do so. Therefore, there is a high likelihood of passengers missing their train.

The spokesperson, commenting on the issue, said it was not a responsibility of PR to inform the passengers regarding cancellations or resumption of the Samjhota Express.  

“It is passenger’s responsibility to keep a track of what is going on. The passengers would already be worried about their visa getting expired in case they miss their train, thus, it is not possible that they will miss the train,” he added.