Islamabad, IRNA — Senate of Pakistan, the upper house of the parliament, has passed a resolution in support of launching a passenger train with the Islamic Republic of Iran to facilitate trade and people-to-people contacts.
Senator Zeeshan Khan Zada from the ruling Tehreek-e-Insaf party moved the resolution on the importance of rail connectivity amongst the neighboring countries for revenue generation, promotion of business and tourism.
“The House recommends that the Government should take steps for running passenger/freight trains between Quetta and Zahidan to facilitate travelling of ziareen, tourists and business community from Pakistan to Iran and boost trade on the analogy of recently resumed freight service from Pakistan to Turkey via Iran,” said the resolution.
The Senators also praised the resumption of ECO train and the transfer of goods from Pakistan to Turkey via the Islamic Republic of Iran.
In an exclusive interview with IRNA in Islamabad in December, the Pakistani minister of railways said that development of rail and bilateral cooperation with the Islamic Republic of Iran is priority of his government, terming revival of the ECO freight train between Islamabad-Tehran-Istanbul a great achievement.
Azam Khan Swati said, “We have a plan to start a passenger train between Iran, Pakistan, and Turkey, but currently, I cannot give a specific time.”
“We will definitely revive this project in future.”
He noted, “Businessmen are taking lot of interest in this rail project. People of Pakistan love people of Iran and our business connections need to be enhanced through regional connectivity.”
Source: Islamic Republic News Agency – IRNA
