India–Nepal Transit Deal Boosts Rail Connectivity
New Delhi: India and Nepal today inked a deal to boost rail trade connectivity, with the two sides exchanging a Letter of Exchange amending the Protocol to the Treaty of Transit between the countries. The agreement was signed during a bilateral meeting between India’s Commerce and Industry Minister, Piyush Goyal, and Nepal’s Minister for Industry, Commerce and Supplies, Anil Kumar Sinha, in New Delhi.
The signing will facilitate the movement of rail-based freight between Jogbani, a town in the Araria district of Bihar, India, and Biratnagar in Nepal, expanding the scope to include bulk cargo. The liberalisation covers key transit corridors—Kolkata to Jogbani, Kolkata to Nautanwa (Sunauli), and Visakhapatnam to Nautanwa (Sunauli)—thereby strengthening multimodal trade connectivity between India and Nepal and enabling smoother trade flows to and from third countries.
The new arrangement allows direct rail connectivity along the Jogbani–Biratnagar rail link for both containerised and bulk cargo, connecting the ports of Kolkata and Visakhapatnam to Nepal’s Customs Yard cargo station in Morang District near Biratnagar. The rail link, built with grant assistance from India, was jointly inaugurated by the Prime Ministers of both nations on June 1, 2023.
The meeting also reviewed ongoing efforts to improve cross-border connectivity and trade facilitation, including the development of Integrated Check Posts and related infrastructure. India continues to be Nepal’s largest trade and investment partner, accounting for a substantial portion of its external trade. The measures announced today are expected to further deepen economic and commercial integration between the two neighbours.
At present, one of the key existing operational rail connections between India and Nepal is the broad-gauge passenger rail section between Jaynagar in India and Kurtha in Nepal, part of the larger Jaynagar–Bijalpura–Bardibas rail-link project. The Jaynagar–Kurtha section spans approximately 35 km and began commercial operation in April 2022. Additionally, a section of the Kurtha–Bijalpura segment (about 17.3 km) was handed over and operationalised in mid-2023. These existing links serve passenger traffic and are part of broader efforts to extend rail linkages across the India-Nepal border for both passenger and freight use.
– global bihari bureau
