Pakistan and Iran have decided to resume a fortnightly passenger train service between them by September this year due to improvement in the security situation. The decision was taken at a meeting of railway officials from the two countries on Thursday.
Pakistan based Dawn reported that Zahedan Railways director general Majid Arjouni led the Iranian delegation and Railways Board secretary Zubair Shafi Ghauri chaired the meeting. The passenger train service will run between Quetta and Mashhad or Qom, and will largely cater to the needs of pilgrims during Muharram.
Earlier, an international mixed passenger and freight service used to be operated twice a month by the Pakistan Railways (PR) between Quetta and Zahedan.
The train service named after the Iranian city used to run on the first and fifteenth day of every month from Quetta to Zahedan and the third and seventeenth of each month from Zahedan to Quetta.
It used to take 33 hours to cover a distance of 732km along the entire stretch of the Quetta-Taftan railway line.
