Are there rail connections to Pakistan from India?

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Are there rail connections to Pakistan from India?

June 28, 2019, 11:45 AM

Before the partition of the subcontinent, there used to be several trains running across what is now the India-Pakistan border. Today, there is only one active rail connection, and the others are in disuse or have been dismantled.

See below for updates! The active link goes Amritsar – Attari – Wagah – Lahore. Attari and Wagah are towns on either side of the border. (The sole active road link between the two countries also goes through Wagah.) Several years ago, a weekly train, the ‘Samjhauta Express’ (‘samjhauta’ = ‘understanding’ in Hindi; often spelled ‘Samjhota’ in English news sources in Pakistan), used to go all the way from Amritsar to Lahore.

Originally each country was to alternate in supplying a rake for the train for six months at a time. The locos were switched at the border. The agreement fell apart (IR did not provide a rake for over six years), and there were also concerns about the rakes being used for smuggling.

So these days, there is no through train; instead passengers have to switch trains at the border. The Delhi-Attari train, also called the Attari Express, rarely shows up in the printed timetables, although it does appear in schedules at railway stations (number 4001/4002) marked as a special train. Through running was under consideration again [4/01] and also a proposal to increase the frequency of the service, which, when it last ran, was running biweekly. About 8-12 goods trains also crossed the border on this line every week.

Note: [6/02] Since the rise in tensions between India and Pakistan since Dec. 2001, even the existing services have been intermittent.

Note: [1/03] With continuing hostility between the two countries, there seems to be no prospect of the international service ever resuming. The latest reports are that Pakistan has dismantled portions of the track leading from Wagah to the Zero Line (the international border), so through running is in fact not possible right now. Normally (i.e., in the past), the Lahore-Wagah line was a double-tracked BG line. On the Indian side, a few DMU services still run to Attari from Amritsar.

Update: [6/03] Continuing tensions between the countries have meant that little can be said with certainty about the status of the link and its future. Some reports from Pakistan suggest that the trackwork leading up to the Zero Line may have been restored now.

Update: [1/04] Talks between India and Pakistan on the topic of resuming the international train connection resulted in an agreement to restart the Samjhauta Express on January 15, 2004. The rail link agreement has been extended to Jan. 2007.

Another link that has been revived recently is the Munabao (India) to Khokrophar (Pakistan) link. These two towns are about 6km apart across the border. This link was in use until about 1965, with through services between Jodhpur and Karachi. The crack train of the Jodhpur State Railway (the Sind Mail between Ahmedabad and Hyderabad) used to run on this route (Hyderabad – Mirpur Khas – Khokhrapar – Munabao – Barmer – Luni – Jodhpur – Pali – Marawar – Palanpur – Ahmedabad), according to a 1929 issue of the Railway Gazette.

In India, the Munabao line runs south of the Jodhpur-Jaisalmer line. Munabao was the terminus of an MG branch line from Jodhpur via Luni, Samdari and Barmer. The Luni-Barmer-Munabao section has now [2004] been converted completely to BG (Luni-Samdari in Dec. 2002, Samdari-Barmer in August 2003). From Samdari there are lines connecting to Marwar (on the Delhi-Ahmedabad line), Jodhpur (via Luni), and Gandhidham (via Bhildi). Munabao currently has a couple of passenger trains from Barmer.

On the Pakistan side, Khokrophar is the terminus of an MG branch line from Hyderabad (Sind) via Mirpur Khas (135km from Mirpur Khas to the border). Proposals had been floated [9/04] for gauge conversion to be done by 2005. As of 2004, the tracks close to the border were completely unusable and covered in sand drifts. Gauge conversion would be a prerequisite for through running of trains on this line. Pakistan had indicated [11/04] that it was willing to open this link for trough traffic, and a tentative date (Oct. 2005, later modified to Jan. 2006) had even been set for this. Gauge conversion to BG began [5/05] on the Pakistani side, starting from Khokrophar station, using 90lb/ft rails. By [10/05] only about 31km had been converted; another 100km or so remained to be converted, and the opening of train services was postponed from Oct. 2005 to Jan. 2006. Tracks were then [12/05] renovated all the way up to the border on either side, except for a small gap at the zero point which was said to be involved in some diplomatic dispute. After further postponements, the first train service on this renovated link ran on Feb. 17, 2006. The passenger service is named the ‘Thar Express’. The train runs overnight from Jodhpur to Munabao; at Munabao, passengers cross over to the Pakistani train for the onward journey after completing border formalities. The connecting train runs from Munabao to Khokrophar and then to Karachi. It is planned that India and Pakistan will each run the cross-border service for 6 months at a time. In Pakistan, seven stations, Jamrao, Shadi Pali, Saeendad, Pithoro, Dhoro Naro, Chhore and Khokhrapar have been renovated for this link. Mirpur Khas to Pithoro is likely to remain dual-gauge for some time, while there is no MG service to Khokraphar now since the BG tracks have been laid on the former MG trackbed. MG lines to Nawabshah and the Pithoro Loop Line remain MG for now — their future is uncertain.

There also used to be another mail train between Ahmedabad and Hyderabad (Sind) running in the late 1920s with a similar route through Luni but probably bypassing Jodhpur. The Palanpur-Kandla/Bhuj line then extended only up to Deesa, while the line south of Samdari ran only up to Raniwara. Thus, this train used to run from Ahmedabad to Hyderabad via Marwar and Luni.

Also, the Frontier Mail (now renamed the Golden Temple Mail) on WR used to go all the way up to Peshawar during the Raj days and that’s why it was named the “Frontier” Mail.

Partial list of former rail connections between the territories of the countries that are now India and Pakistan:

Luni – Munabao – Khokropar (MG)
Ferozepur – Fazilka – Bahawalnagar – Samasata (through Anupgarh (India) / Amruka & Fort Abbas (Pakistan) near the border).
Ferozepur – Kasur – Raiwind – Lahore
Amritsar – Attari – Lahore
Amritsar – Dera Baba Nanak – Narowal – Sialkot
Sialkot – Jammu
See the international links list for more details.

Apart from the Frontier Mail other notable trains that used to run between what are now India and Pakistan included:

Punjab Mail (Bombay VT – Lahore, via Delhi / Ferozepur, GIPR)
Howrah Lahore Mail via Patna
Howrah Express to Lahore
Bombay – Lahore Exp. via Delhi, Karnal, Ambala, Ludhiana, Amritsar (? needs confirmation)

Source – IFRCA.org

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