Railways Minister Sheikh Rashid Saturday announced that the Samjhota Express train service between Pakistan and India will resume operations on Monday.
“The service will resume on Monday and continue as per schedule,” the minister said while speaking to media in Lahore.
The train service runs twice a week (Mondays and Thursdays) from Lahore to Attari via the Wagah railway station.
On Thursday, Ministry of Foreign Affairs had announced the suspension of Samjhota Express operations in light of the prevailing tensions between the two countries.
“When [Pakistan’s] airspace was shut down, the railways department took on 25 per cent more load to make up for the deficits,” the minister said as he appreciated his department’s performance over the past week.
Flight operations were suspended when the Pakistani airspace was closed to commercial flights on Wednesday. Flight operations have since been partially revived at Karachi, Islamabad, Peshawar and Quetta airports, however the full operations will fully resume on Monday.
Tensions between the neighbouring countries escalated after Indian aircraft violated Pakistan’s airspace on Tuesday. A day later, the Pakistan Air Force (PAF) undertook strikes across the Line of Control, following which two Indian aircraft violated the LoC again and were shot down by the PAF.
Published in Daily Times, March 3rd 2019.
