Historic train journey trip from Karachi to Indian border town

1. Exterior of railway station 2. Wide shot train at crowded station platform 3. Close of people 4. Various of families saying goodbye at station 5. SOUNDBITE: (Urdu) vox pop, Rukhsana Afzal: "We are happy that this train service has opened. We had tried to make this journey before but failed and could not go. Now this line is open we are going and we will enjoy the journey and this will help further improve Pakistan India relations. This should have happened a long time ago." 6. Close of a woman with grim face seeing off loved ones 7. Wide of people on platform beside the train 8. Close of a woman in train holding a baby 8. Sindh province governor Ishratul Ibad seeing off the train passengers 9. Various of train leaving the platform STORYLINE: A Pakistani train carrying some 300 passengers pulled out of a Karachi station on Friday to make the first trip from Pakistan to the Indian border town of Munbao in 41 years. The railway line connecting Karachi with India was severed shortly after war broke out between the two countries in 1965. Its reopening on Friday marks the latest step in a slow-moving peace process. Railway staff decked out the station with lights, bunting and flags to mark the historic occasion. More than 3,000 people joined the governor of Sindh province, Ishratul Ibad, and Chief Minister Arbab Ghulam Rahim to see the first train leave. The train, named the Thar Express after a Pakistani desert, will now journey once a week across the 400 kilometres that lie between Karachi and Munbao. Pakistanis planning to take the train into India must still apply for visas and the nearest Indian consulate lies one thousand kilometres away in Islamabad. Both countries agreed in July 2005 to re-open consulates in Mamba and Karachi that were closed down in 1994 due to political tensions, but there is no clear date as to when this will take place. keyword-transport train railway station You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/youtube/5f8e1087b744695383e18dc26a84d126 Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork