India’s entry could put Gul Train back on track

[ajtr]

India’s entry could put Gul Train back on track

ISLAMABAD:
If a railways ministry proposal goes through, goods can be seamlessly sent from Calcutta all the way to Istanbul via cargo trains. The only entity standing in the way, quite literally, is Islamabad.
The ministry has proposed signing an agreement with India to grant it permission to use Pakistan’s rail services for transporting goods from Wahga to Iran, an official from the ministry told The Express Tribune.
The service could be provided using the Gul Cargo Train, an international freight service between Pakistan, Iran and Turkey that was started in 2009.
The train held its inaugural trial run in 2011 but was abandoned for several reasons.
“We recently forwarded the proposal to the ministry of commerce, for discussions with the Indian government,” the official said.
“India will definitely like the agreement … it will help them export to the Central Asian States and other countries in the region quicker and cheaper, compared to other transportation arrangements,” the official added.
An agreement to that effect would not only help Pakistan Railways bring Gul Train back into operation, but could also prove to be a profitable venture for the ailing railways, the source said.
Clubbing with PATTA
The proposed agreement could also be made part of the Pakistan-Afghanistan Transit Trade Agreement (PATTA), signed in Kabul in 2010, the official said.
Under PATTA, Afghanistan is entitled to transport its India-bound cargo through Pakistan. Afghan trucks enter Pakistan at Torkham, and transfer their goods to Indian trucks at Wahga.
However, Indian exports to Afghanistan were not allowed under PATTA. The accord said the issue could be discussed “at an appropriate time in the future.”
The railways ministry official said the new proposal, allowing India to trade with Iran via Pakistan, should also be considered when officials reconsider PATTA.
Troubles with Gul Train
During its pilot operation, the scheduled time for Gul Train to reach its destination was 14 days.
However, at a meeting in June, railways officials of Pakistan, Iran and Turkey agreed to reduce the scheduled time to nine days.
After reducing the scheduled time, Gul Train will be in a better position to attract Pakistani exporters and importers, said the railways official.
Traders’ reluctance regarding the journey time was one of the major factors for financial losses that forced Pakistan Railways to suspend the train’s operations in January 2012.
Former president of All Pakistan Commercial Exporters Association, Atif Rashid Khawaja, told The Express Tribune that high freight charges were another reason exporters abandoned the Gul Train services.
On this problem, the railways official said that freight charges for the Pakistani business community would be reduced if Pakistan and India signed the proposed agreement.

 

[INDIC]

Will be a flop just like MFN issue.

 

[surya kiran]

This should not be linked to PATTA. They are 2 different things. While PATTA deals specifically with relation to Afghanistan, the second is more related primarily access to Iran and Turkey. Bringing both under one deal will lead to unecessary delays if one part of the agreement does not work out.

 

[Kompromat]

IPI TAPI TIPCI [Gul Train] - apologies, stung too many times, perhaps Indian Kremlin should tag its strategic interests to BLA and TTP, only if and when they realize "otherwise".
Keep supporting your allies and we will make sure that not a single Indian potato reaches Russia or Europe through this project nor a single drop of oil or a gas reaches India from Iran & you can keep paying 10X the price for imports and exports, for the next century.

 

[third eye]

IPI TAPI TIPCI [Gul Train] - apologies, stung too many times, perhaps Indian Kremlin should tag its strategic interests to BLA and TTP, only if and when they realize "otherwise".
Keep supporting your allies and we will make sure that not a single Indian potato reaches Russia or Europe through this project nor a single drop of oil or a gas reaches India from Iran & you can keep paying 10X the price for imports and exports, for the next century.

Besides India ( who I may add can afford it ) the loss also is to Pakistan in terms of transit fees and other development that would take place to its infrastructure.

It may just be a case of cutting your own nose to spite a neighbor.

 

[Hulk]

IPI TAPI TIPCI [Gul Train] - apologies, stung too many times, perhaps Indian Kremlin should tag its strategic interests to BLA and TTP, only if and when they realize "otherwise".
Keep supporting your allies and we will make sure that not a single Indian potato reaches Russia or Europe through this project nor a single drop of oil or a gas reaches India from Iran & you can keep paying 10X the price for imports and exports, for the next century.

A) Can't help if you imagine us supporting TTP/BLA.
B) 10X is way over the top. Maybe 2X.
C) only blaming India will not help. Pakistan's attitude of hurting India even if it hurt them has coasted them more.

We are way better than you, look for yourself.

 

[Yogi]

IPI TAPI TIPCI [Gul Train] - apologies, stung too many times, perhaps Indian Kremlin should tag its strategic interests to BLA and TTP, only if and when they realize "otherwise".
Keep supporting your allies and we will make sure that not a single Indian potato reaches Russia or Europe through this project nor a single drop of oil or a gas reaches India from Iran & you can keep paying 10X the price for imports and exports, for the next century.

Hold ur horses brother ur going way too high, i mean 10x...

R u kidding me at max it would be 2x if u had read the article correctly u would have known that this rail project is already strugling bcoz of high freights n longer duration...

Besides India's involement will not only increase this projects viability but also increase its chances to be become a pan Asia project by extending n linking it with BD, Mayanmar, China, Nepal, Bhutan, etc.

Unfortunately some narrow minded Pakistanis r not only hampering the growth prospects of the region but also their own growth prospects....

 

[kumarkumar1867]

We all know the Pakistanis. Such train will never come in action.

If we go by past experiences & draw wise conclusions from that, such project should not be discussed nor proposed.

 

[A.Rafay]

idiotic government and its ministers!

 

[Kompromat]

Besides India ( who I may add can afford it ) the loss also is to Pakistan in terms of transit fees and other development that would take place to its infrastructure.

It may just be a case of cutting your own nose to spite a neighbor.

I, am against allowing India access to C.Asia, Russia or to Europe. There is a huge trust deficit, plus Pakistan is holding its breath to see if Indians decide to bring modi in, it will not help.. not even one bit.

 

[third eye]

I, am against allowing India access to C.Asia, Russia or to Europe. There is a huge trust deficit, plus Pakistan is holding its breath to see if Indians decide to bring modi in, it will not help.. not even one bit.

Problems are rarely solved from permanently from the outside.

They are best approached from within. If India could accept Mush as the Pak Pres after Kargil which he masterminded why cannot Pak accept Modi as an Indian PM though personally I feel he will / can never be one.

Fixed POV never work at any level - personal or political.

Once again, it does not matter much to India while it could help Pak immensely.

On the other hand , from the Indian POV there is a huge concern on the ability of GOP to be able to honor any such agreement for transit. Less because of the trust deficit more because if GOPs (in) ability to enforce across all of its lands.

 

[Kaniska]

Useless proposal...Indian should desist from any proposal that gives financial and tactical advantage to Pakistan...

 

[Kompromat]

Problems are rarely solved from permanently from the outside.

They are best approached from within. If India could accept Mush as the Pak Pres after Kargil which he masterminded why cannot Pak accept Modi as an Indian PM though personally I feel he will / can never be one.

Fixed POV never work at any level - personal or political.

Once again, it does not matter much to India while it could help Pak immensely.

On the other hand , from the Indian POV there is a huge concern on the ability of GOP to be able to honor any such agreement for transit. Less because of the trust deficit more because if GOPs (in) ability to enforce across all of its lands.

First needs to be fixed before the 2nd. Its a win win, only if we could realize.

Useless proposal...Indian should desist from any proposal that gives financial and tactical advantage to Pakistan...

Genius !

 

[surya kiran]

I, am against allowing India access to C.Asia, Russia or to Europe. There is a huge trust deficit, plus Pakistan is holding its breath to see if Indians decide to bring modi in, it will not help.. not even one bit.

The more your complete foreign policy is anti-India, instead of pro-Pakistan, the more you will come under pressure. Earlier, it was only the US which was saying 'do more'. Today, Saudi is slowly changing its stance towards India. So is China. All these are primarily based on trade. As of date, Pakistan cannot risk irking either of these 2.

The reason, India is wary of oil passing through Pakistan is, because its strategic in nature. General trade passing to and fro need not be strategic. And the more you stick to your stance, the more you come across as a nuisance partner instead of a 'strategic' or any other partner.

 

[arp2041]

I, am against allowing India access to C.Asia, Russia or to Europe. There is a huge trust deficit, plus Pakistan is holding its breath to see if Indians decide to bring modi in, it will not help.. not even one bit.

This Pakistani attitude is not hurting anyone but Pakistan itself, India by one way or the other will get the access to CA/Russia/Europe, though it will be a costly affair but Indian economy can afford it, the economy which is currently in total mess is of Pakistan, just remember that Pakistan had to give the US it's transit facility to Afghanistan for earning some $$ & restart the US aid to Pakistan, but after the NATO forces pull-out in 2014 this source of income for Pakistan will be dried out, the only country economically strong that Pakistan can look upto in the region is India (maybe u would not like it but this is the fact), non giving of transit route hasn't stopped India to become the largest regional donor to Afghanistan (bound to increase), so it's for Pakistan to choose - either make amends with India or face the consequences of getting in economic mess that Pakistan is in.