Popular S. Asia rail link reopens
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A family say goodbye at the Old Delhi railway station.
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SPECIAL REPORT
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LAHORE, Pakistan -- A train has left the Pakistani city of Lahore bound for New Delhi, the first time for two years the service has run.
The line was suspended after India blamed Pakistani militants for an attack on its parliament in 2001.
But amid a thawing in animosity between the nuclear-armed rivals which ended in ground-breaking talks this month, the neighbors have embarked on a series of steps towards peace.
Another train left New Delhi for Pakistan.
The twice-weekly service is a popular one for Indian and Pakistani families separated after independence in 1947.
The Samjhauta or "Understanding," Express left Lahore carrying 71 passengers, and five more boarded in the town of Wagah.
Many were members of families who have relatives on both sides of the border. On the Indian side, some 250 people rode Wednesday's overnight Attari Express toward Pakistan.
The return of the train service comes little more than two weeks after commercial air flights were also restarted.
In Lahore, the chairman of Pakistan railways, Khurshid Ahmed Khan, saw off the flag-decorated express and hung garlands around the necks of its driver and engineer.
Passengers could barely contain their excitement, like Shamma Parveen, a 24-year-old Indian woman married to a Pakistani who was traveling to India to see her mother.
"Right after I stepped into the train, I felt as if I have hugged my mother," Parveen told The Associated Press.
"I am in her lap."
At Attari, Indian police were on the lookout for suspected terrorists and smugglers.
Indian passengers who had arrived before dawn and huddled in blankets against the frigid temperatures were subjected to body and baggage searches as police on horseback patrolled the station.
The freshly painted Attari Express that brought them from the Old Delhi railway station was only a quarter full, largely due to problems until Wednesday night in obtaining visas and selling tickets, the Times of India newspaper reported.
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Associated Press contributed to this report.
