The train will start running from the Indian side on Sunday, while on the Pakistan side it will leave Lahore on Monday on its return journey.
The railways run the train on Sundays from Delhi to Attari and back, while Pakistan used to run the train between Lahore and Attari. Passengers used to change trains at the Attari station.
Indo-Pak Samjhauta Express, which was suspended due to security reasons in the wake of the assassination of former Pakistan premier Benazir Bhutto, resumed its service on Sunday. The decision was taken after consultation with the Ministry of Home Affairs, the Ministry of External Affairs and railway officials of Pakistan, another official said. No decision has been taken on the resumption of services of the Thar Express.
The two countries are contemplating introducing an Advance Information Passenger Information System wherein both sides exchange information on details of passengers travelling on these trains, Railway Ministry sources said.
The Samjhauta Express carrying some 150 passengers left Lahore railway station for India, Radio Pakistan reported.
Railway officials in New Delhi said the train has not been suspended.
The Centre on Wednesday said the probe into the Samjhauta Express train bomb blasts, in which 43 Pakistani nationals were killed, was still on to find out the identities of all perpetrators of the crime.
The two, identified as Huzaifa of Abhinandan Bag Centre and the shop manager Poonam Singh Thakur, were taken to Panipat or Chandigarh after seeking permission of the court for further probe.
All 100 passengers on the India-bound Samjhauta Express train escaped unhurt after its engine caught fire due to an electrical short circuit in Pakistan's Punjab province, officials said.
No date of resumption of services has been fixed so far, they said.
About 14 kg of heroin being smuggled from Pakistan in the trans-border Samjhauta Express were seized and four passengers of the train arrested for allegedly carrying the contraband, having a street value of Rs 70 crore, officials said here on Tuesday.
A day after Islamabad downgraded diplomatic ties with New Delhi over developments in Jammu and Kashmir, Pakistan's Federal Railways Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed told the media in Islamabad on Thursday that Pakistan has closed the Samjhauta Express train service with India.
The report said on the day of the blasts, there were no "permanent or temporary" speed restrictions on the up line in the Samalkha-Diwana section and at Old Delhi railway station.
The minister went around the station for about half an hour along with senior ministry officials and security personnel inspecting security arrangements, and met passengers of the 'Friendship Train'.
Kamal Chauhan, a disgruntled Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh worker arrested by the National Investigation Agency, had planted bombs on board Samjhauta Express in 2007 after undergoing training in arms and explosives in Haryana and Madhya Pradesh, the agency claimed on Tuesday.
The Indian response came as Pakistan summoned India's Acting Deputy High Commissioner S Raghuram and expressed concern over the cancellation of operation of Samjhauta Express on Thursday due to farmer protest in India leaving over 200 passengers from both countries stranded.
The fire had started when the train was at Diwana railway station near Panipat in Haryana, it said.
A local court on Tuesday allowed the National Investigation Agency to compare next week forensic evidence collected in Samjhauta Express train blast case with that of bomb attacks in Malegaon, Hyderabad and Ajmer, in which the role of right-wing Hindu extremists is suspected.
Luggage restrictions on Samjhauta train during cricket series\n\n\n\n
The Waqf Board is an Islamic trust which encompasses many facets of Islamic life including education, maintenance of buildings and burials.
Aseemanand, a member of right-wing Hindu group Abhinav Bharat, has been in jail since December 2010.
In an apparent reference to Swami Aseemanand's confession to a special court in New Delhi, a statement issued by the Foreign Office said the Indian diplomat's "attention was drawn to the recent reports in the media on the investigations into the Samjhauta Express blasts of February 2007".
Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi was on Tuesday quoted as having linked the Samjhauta train blasts near Panipat in 2007 to the Mumbai terror attacks last November.According to the Dawn newspaper, Qureshi had told reporters in Multan that the Samjhauta Express incident and the Mumbai attacks were inter-connected and the probe could continue only if India responds to questions raised by Pakistan.
Pakistan on Thursday said India was trying to "exonerate" individuals suspected to be involved in the 2007 Samjhauta Express blasts that killed more than 42 Pakistanis and sought "fair investigation" in the case.
Lieutenant Colonel Shrikant Purohit, who was arrested for his role in the Malegaon blast, was produced before a Nashik court on Saturday.The court extended Purohit's police custody till November 18.Public Prosecutor Ajay Misar told the court that Lt Col Purohit had links with the 2007 Samjhauta Express blast and he supplied the RDX used in the blast.
Pakistan's Interior Minister Rehman Malik has said that India has provided the Samjhauta Express train blast investigation report and that both countries have agreed to discuss Kashmir and other pending issues.
Pakistani Interior Minister Rehman Malik has alleged that an Indian Army officer linked to the 2007 bombing of the trans-border Samjhauta Express train had hired Pakistan-based militants to carry out the attack.
Pakistan on Thursday accused India of conducting the probe into the 2007 Samjhauta Express train blast at a "snail's pace", as it asked New Delhi to share with Islamabad "at the earliest" the latest developments in the case in which 42 of its nationals were killed.
The two countries faced great problems in identification of the deceased passengers.
The Thar Express has been running between Jodhpur and Karachi since services resumed on February 18, 2006 after a 41-year suspension.
Investigators probing Samjhauta Express blast case have claimed to have found evidence of right-wing activist Swami Aseemanand's alleged involvement in the 2007 terror act. "After the probe by the National Investigation Agency it is getting clear that Aseemanand and his accomplices were involved in Samjhauta blast," sources privy to the investigation said.
The verdict came after National Investigation Agency special judge Jagdeep Singh dismissed the plea filed by a Pakistani woman for examining eyewitnesses from her country, saying it was "devoid of any merit".
Police said passengers travelling in coach number 95411 noticed two abandoned suitcases near the toilet and immediately informed the Government Railway Police and railway officials.
Seven years after Samjhauta Express blasts, a court on Friday framed murder, sedition and other charges against right wing Hindu activist Swami Aseemanand and three others paving the way for start of trial.
Samjhauta blast accused Swami Aseemanand on Wednesday denied in court that he had ever met with Kamal Chauhan, who has accepted that he bombed the train that left 68 dead in February 2007.
The police have also released the sketches of two suspects in the blasts.
In a major breakthrough in the 2007 Samjhauta Express blast case, the National Investigation Agency arrested Rajendra (Pahalwan) Chowdhary, suspected to have planted bombs in the Pakistan-bound train, from Ujjain in Madhya Pradesh.
Senior IPS officer Bharti Arora, currently posted as the inspector general of police of Ambala range in Haryana, has sought voluntary retirement from service citing personal grounds, and said she wants to dedicate the rest of her life to the service of Lord Sri Krishna.
The quarter-page advertisement, issued by the 'Samjhota Affectees Action Committee', appeared in several leading newspapers.
The pact also includes continuing the freight services till 2010.
© 2026 Rediff.com - Advertise with us - Disclaimer - Privacy Policy - Sitemap - Feedback - About us - Terms of use - Grievances