TRAIN TO PAKISTAN TRIAL

It is also the story of a Sikh boy and a Muslim girl whose love endured and transcends the ravages of war. Train to Pakistan is the story of this isolated village that is plunged into the abyss of religious hate. Then one day, at the end of the summer, the В“ghost trainвЂќ arrives, a silent, incredible funeral train loaded with the bodies of thousands of refugees, bringing the village its first taste of the horrors of the civil war. One of these villages was Mano Majra.вЂќ It is a place, Khushwant Singh goes on to tell us at the beginning of this classic novel, where Sikhs and Muslims have lived together in peace for hundreds of years. The only remaining oases of peace were a scatter of little villages lost in the remote reaches of the frontier. By the time the monsoon broke, almost a million of them were dead, and all of northern India was in arms, in terror, or in hiding. ItsВ transport capacity is 20 containers of 40 feet.В Estimated travel time is 11 days as compared to 45 days via sea route.В It has over 30% reduction in rail fares as opposed to traditional routes.В“In the summer of 1947, when the creation of the state of Pakistan was formally announced, ten million peopleВ—Muslims and Hindus and SikhsВ—were in flight. Islamabad-Tehran-Istanbul rail corridor will provide service to facilitate cargo and container transport. Other countries earlier also expressed eagerness to join the project and suggested further expansion to the European and Middle East markets. From Turkey, the corridor can link up with the European rail networks via IstanbulвЂ™s 76-km long undersea Marmaray railway tunnel. It aims to boost economic cooperation among Pakistan, Iran and Turkey first and with the other ECO member countries afterwards.Д«esides Pakistan, Turkey and Iran, some countries, including,В Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and UzbekistanВ will benefit from the ITI project.ДЄlthough the project was launched to promote the economic relations among the ECO founding member countries, it offers a short, safe, and affordable route for transportation of goods between Asia and Europe, extending benefits to several regional countries. The railway line from Istanbul, through Tehran, all the way to Islamabad has been described as вЂњtremendously beneficialвЂќ to all three nations.

The total length of the Islamabad-Tehran-Istanbul project is 6500 km, including, Iran: 2600 km,В Turkey: 1950 km, and Pakistan: 1990 km. The train has a maximum capacity for twenty 40-feet containers. In comparison, transporting goods from European countries to Pakistan via seaway took almost 45 days. The journey was later further reduced to 11.5 days. During the trial, the freight train from Islamabad to Istanbul took nearly 13 days to make the 6500km journey. The railway line intends to greatly reduce the transit route of the goods from Istanbul to Islamabad. The rail route, which is recognized by the UN as an international corridor between the three countries, has so far only been used for test journeys.

TRAIN TO PAKISTAN TRIAL

The trial run of the ITI train was launched in 2009 as a project under the Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO) вЂ“ 10-member Asian trade bloc. The train is expected to resume operations in 2021. The key requirements for the revival of the ITI train, also called the ECO Container train have been fulfilled. The railways of Pakistan, Turkey and Iran have mutually agreed to resume regular operations soon, said TurkeyвЂ™s Transport Minister, Adil KaraismailoДџlu, after the 10th edition of the Economic Cooperation OrganizationвЂ™s (ECO) Transport and Communications Ministers Meeting in Istanbul.

Train to pakistan