Torn from family reunions, weddings and funerals, hundreds of Pakistanis and Indians caught the last train home Monday, cramming into extra carriages as their war-ready government halted the 25-year-old rail service called the "Understanding Express."

Wrapped in scarves, overcoats and shawls against the winter chill, some 2,300 Pakistanis and Indians said tearful goodbyes on platforms in New Delhi, India and Lahore, Pakistan before boarding their separate versions of the Samjhauta Express.

Named with the Hindi-language word for "understanding," the train service was inaugurated in 1976 as part of a peace treaty following the last war between India and Pakistan in 1971. Journeying home from both directions before all train, bus and air service ceases on January 1, the passengers complained about their government actions, and

hoped there would be no war between the nuclear-armed South Asian nations.

With Pakistan barely two kilometers (one mile) away, Mohammed Nawaz, a 40-year-old house painter heading home from India, was happy to see no army building in the border area in northern Punjab state where passengers switched trains in the sleepy town ofAttari.

"I don't think there will be another war between India and Pakistan," said Nawaz. He was happy to be near home, but sad that he had to cut short a visit to meet his mother-in-law. "I had waited for the Indian visa for one year," he said.

Last Friday, India announced it was severing transportation links to pressure Pakistan to shut down Islamic militant organizations that New Delhi blames for the December 13 attack on Parliament. Pakistan denied involvement, and responded by halting the links on

its side, as both countries also cut their embassy staffs in held.

Both nations set troops, tanks, rocket launchers and extra artillery to the 1,800-km border, saying they are ready for anything, although they don't want war.

At New Delhi's main station Sunday night, two extra cars were added to the train to handle the load of about 1,000 people, twice the normal number.

The train traveled through the night. On Monday morning the exhausted passengers bundled out onto the platform at Attari, nearly 430 km northwest of New Delhi, to wait for the immigration and customs booths to open so they could board a train heading to Lahore, in Pakistan. They carried cosmetics, CDs, Indian saris and cashew nuts.

Meanwhile, as dawn broke Monday in Lahore, hundreds of men and women cried and embraced, then climbed onto the gray-green express that they call the "train of love and emotions."