Few takers for more Indo-Pak trains proposal

The decision by India and Pakistan to scale up the number of freight trains between the two countries to five a day has not yet materialised due to lack of sufficient freight traffic between the two countries. At present, two freight trains each from Pakistan and India cross the border post at Attari and Wagah every day.

The proposal to have more goods trains had come when Pakistani cement started coming in from September 2007 after India scrapped import duty on the commodity earlier in the year. Pakistan has a surplus of around 16 million tonnes.

In June, a high-level Pakistan railway delegation met senior officials of the railways and the two sides decided to scale up the number of freight trains to boost trade between the two countries.

At the moment, two trains from Pakistan, carrying mostly cement, dry fruits and country drugs, arrive at Amritsar every day. Also, two freight trains from the Indian side go to the Attari border.

On a daily basis, around 1,800 tonnes of cement reaches Amritsar, from where it is transported to other parts of North India through road.

Commerce ministry officials told Business Standard that the amount of cement imported from Pakistan had gone down marginally during the monsoon due to low demand. However, the plan to increase the number of goods trains may not be feasible because of the low volume of traffic, they say.

“India does not supply any major commodity to Pakistan. The freight trains from the country have to go almost empty to the Pakistan border post. As such there is no point in increasing the number of trains to five at this point of time,” said an senior railway ministry official.

He added the Pakistan railways had also not been able to address certain key technical issues raised by the Indian side. The major concern of the railways is safety of the freight trains run by Pakistan. Unlike the Indian railways, which operate eight-wheeler wagons, Pakistan railways run four-wheeler wagons, which have a higher chance of getting derailed.

“A freight train running on four-wheeler wagons will contain a total of 70 wagons compared with 36 wagons that are carried by a normal freight train. Since the number of wagons are high, the chance of derailment is more. We have taken up this issue several times with the Pakistan railways. However, they are yet to take a |final decision,” said the official.