ISLAMABAD, Jan. 19 (Xinhua) -- Pakistani and Iranian railway authorities have decided to restore a fortnightly passenger train service between the two countries by September due to improvement in security situation, local Urdu media reported Friday.

A Joint Expert Committee Meeting was held between the two sides at the Ministry of Railways here on Thursday and was chaired by Pakistan's Railways Board Secretary Zubair Shafi Ghauri.

The passenger train service will run between Pakistan's southwestern city of Quetta and Mashhad or Qom, two populous cities of Iran.

It will largely cater to the needs of pilgrims during Muharram, the first month of the Islamic calendar.

The two sides also decided to run 15 regular freight trains between Quetta and Iran's Zahedan as per the demands of the business community with the final schedule to be finalized after consultation with top leaderships of the two countries.

The Islamabad-Tehran-Istanbul train also came under discussion during the meeting between the two sides.