'Rlys finding it tough to meet rush of passengers from Pak'

Railways is finding it difficult to meet the spurt in number of passengers from Pakistan travelling to India by Thar Link Express, a senior official said today.
It has reminded Pakistan of the conditions of the MoU, under which the number of passengers from either side would not exceed 700.
"But in the past few months, the number of passengers coming from Pakistan has crossed the mark of 1,100 which is a very huge number given the number of passengers in the MoU," DRM Rajeev Sharma said.
Considering the spurt in the number of passengers, "we have to make additional arrangements, most importantly the number of coaches," he said.

The DRM said that currently the Thar Link Express has added two more coaches taking the total number to 11 as against the standard nine coaches.
It was agreed that coaches would be added only when there would be specific need. "But since the past few months, especially since June, Pakistan has consistently been demanding additional coaches," said Sharma.

Following this demand, the railways first provided two additional coaches and add one more later making it three.
It was later reduced to two and presently the train has been ferrying with 11 coaches in order to accommodate the increased number of passengers.

"But now we have decided to take step to limit the number of passengers corresponding the conditions of agreement and have taken necessary steps to intimate Pakistan," said Sharma.
"The decision to restrict the number of passengers would, however, be taken at higher level," he said considering the bilateral nature of the issue.
The Thar Link Express ply between Bhagat Ki Kothi station (Jodhpur) and Munabao (Barmer) leaving from Jodhpur on Friday night and returning on Sunday morning.
Given the spurt in the number of passengers, not only the railways but also the custom department and security agencies also have put in additional arrangements, which leads to frequent delay in arrival of the train to Jodhpur.