India and Pakistan on Tuesday decided to launch the Amritsar-Lahore bus service from January 20, 2006 and agreed to conduct the trial run of the Amritsar-Nankana Sahib service from January 27.

The first bus will ply from Lahore [Images] to Amritsar [Images] on January 20, the two countries decided during the third round of the two-day technical-level talks in Lahore.

From the Indian side, the first bus will ply on January 24, a joint statement issued after the talks said.

• The road to peace

Each side will run the bus once a week. The Indian bus will leave on Tuesday and return on Wednesday, while the Pakistani bus will leave on Friday and return on Saturday.

The one-way fare will be Pakistani Rs 900 and Indian Rs 750.

The two countries also signed an agreement regarding the bus service between Amritsar and Nankana Sahib.

The trial run will be conducted on January 27 from Amritsar and on January 29 from Nankana Sahib.

For the Amritsar-Nankana Sahib bus service, the one-way fare will be Pakistani Rs 1,200 and Indian Rs 1,000.

Department of Road Transport and Highways Joint Secretary Saroj Kumar Dash led the Indian side while the Pakistani delegation was headed by Additional Secretary in the Ministry of Communications Mohammad Abbas.

The two countries have also decided to launch a train service between Khokhrapar and Munnabao from January 1.