India to launch Munabao-Khokrapar service soon

The services on the Munabao-Khokrapar rail route, suspended since the 1965 Indo-Pak war are set to resume.

A gleaming "world class" railway station in this sleepy hamlet on the Indo-Pak border is ready to receive passengers of the historic Thar Express as the two countries open their second rail link after forty years.

HT Image

The services on the Munabao-Khokrapar rail route, suspended since the 1965 Indo-Pak war are set to resume within a few weeks after another round of talks between rail officials of the two nations in Islamabad beginning on Monday.

The island platform at the railway station resembles a terminal of an international airport with elaborate arrangements for immigration and customs checks for the weekly train service that would traverse the picturesque Thar desert connecting Rajasthan with Sindh province across the border.

"We are ready to start the service anytime. Now it is only a question of decision on the date for the launch," SB Bhattacharya, General Manager, North Western Railway told visiting reporters.

The platform, designed to receive a train of 10 coaches from either side simultaneously, can comfortably accomodate over 1,000 passengers travelling on the Munabao-Khokrapar rail route.

The station has separate enclosures for customs and immigration checks, which could be air-conditioned at a later date.