ISLAMABAD, 9 March 2006 — A top Pakistan Railway official said that train service between Iran and Pakistan was suspended temporarily due to security fears.
Minister for Railways Mian Shamim Haider said, “Due to militants’ attack on rail tracks and derailment of a few trains for some time we had mutually decided to suspend this service.” The security on passenger trains to Iran has been increased.
But another railway official denied reports that it would suspend services. “There is no suspension of the train service from Pakistan to Iran,” Pakistan Railways General Manager Salimur Rehman said. “We suspended goods train service for only 3-4 days but passenger trains are operating,” he said. Pakistan operates a fortnightly service to the Iranian border city of Zahedan from Quetta, the capital of the troubled province of Balochistan.
Pakistan Railways Chief Operating Officer Mohammad Asadullah also stressed that twice-a-month train services to Iran had not been suspended. The next train will go to Zahedan on schedule on March 15. Security on the route has been enhanced following requests by locomotive drivers after recent attacks on trains in Balochistan, he said.
