Amid India-Pakistan Tensions, Samjhauta Express Resumes Service

In a sign of easing tensions, the train left Lahore for India’s Attari, with more than 170 passengers on board.

Samjhauta Express between India and Pakistan reopened in another sign of easing tensions.

(Photo: AP)

Video Courtesy: AP
Video Editor: Varun Sharma

Pakistani authorities on Monday, 4 March, restored the Samjhauta Express services between Lahore and Delhi, days after the train was suspended due to tense bilateral ties.

The train left Pakistan's eastern city of Lahore for India's border town of Attari, with more than 170 passengers on board.

“This train (the Samjhauta Express) arrived from Lahore (in Pakistan). There are 176 passengers, out of which there is one driver and one guard, (so the) total (number of) passengers is 174, out of which 160 are from India and 14 are from Pakistan.”

AK Gupta, Superintendent of Attari train station

The train, named after the Hindi word "agreement", comprises six sleeper coaches and an AC 3-tier coach. The train service was started on 22 July 1976 under the Simla Agreement that settled the 1971 war between the two nations.

The train departs on Monday and Thursday from Lahore.

Pakistan suspended the train service last week as tensions escalated following India's airstrike inside Pakistan.

The footfall of Samjhauta Express, which generally records an occupancy of around 70 per cent, had fallen drastically post the Pulwama attack in which 40 CRPF soldiers were killed.

Tensions escalated between India and Pakistan in the wake of the Pulwama attack by Pakistan-based terror group Jaish-e-Mohammed.

(With inputs from PTI and AP)