Khemraj Sapkota, Nepal News Bank <\/p>\n
Biratnagar. Industrialists and businessmen of eastern Nepal have been elated after a cargo train carrying imported goods from third countries under the Nepal-India Transit Agreement arrived directly from the Indian port Kolkata to Biratnagar for the first time. Industrialists have termed it as a ‘game changer’ and ‘milestone’ for the industrial development of eastern Nepal. <\/p>\n
The train carrying industrial raw materials that left Kolkata on Friday arrived at the customs yard in Biratnagar on Monday.<\/p>\n
Raw materials imported from third countries were brought to Swastik Oil Industries located in Morang-Sunsari Industrial Corridor. <\/p>\n
Prior to this, goods coming from third countries were brought only up to Bathnaha of India by train.<\/p>\n
After that, they were compelled to bring them to Biratnagar by truck. Industrialists believe that the transportation process will be shortened, cost will be reduced and time will be saved once the railway will reach the customs point of Nepal. <\/p>\n
Rajendra Raut, president of Koshi Province of Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FNCCI), said the launch of the service is a historic achievement for the industries of eastern Nepal.<\/p>\n
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‘This has been a demand for many years. It’s finally done. The cost of transportation will be reduced for the industrialists. It will reduce the cost of operating industries and increase its competitiveness,” he said, adding, “This is a milestone for the industrial development of eastern Nepal.” “<\/p>\n
According to him, the reduction in transportation cost will not only benefit the industry but ultimately the consumers. He said that the production process would also be easier if raw materials were available on time. <\/p>\n
Pawan Sarda, president of Confederation of Nepalese Industries (CNI) Koshi Province, said that with the operation of cargo rail service, the industries in Biratnagar Industrial Corridor can compete with other industrial areas of the country. Nanda <\/p>\n
Kishor Rathi, president of the Chamber of Industries Morang, said that it is positive that the service has finally resumed on a regular basis after a long hiatus after the test. <\/p>\n
‘It was inaugurated two years ago. But due to various reasons, it could not be operated regularly,” he said. If it continues, it will be a great relief to the industrialists and the real benefits will be seen. According to Rathi, importing raw materials by rail will help reduce dependency on trucks, reduce transportation risk and control cost of production.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Devaki Sharma, president of Biratnagar Customs Agents Association, said that the service is not enough to start the service.<\/p>\n
“The most important aspect is that this service should be operated continuously,” he said, “Industrialists should be encouraged to use it.” The railway service will be completely successful only if industrial awareness is raised. <\/p>\n
new trade route opened <\/p>\n
Cargo train service was formally inaugurated in a special ceremony held in Kolkata. Nepal’s Consul General in Kolkata, Jhakka Prasad Acharya, high officials of Indian Customs, representatives of Kolkata Port and Container Corporation of India Limited (CONCOR) jointly flagged off the train to Biratnagar. <\/p>\n
Customs staff, industrialists and businessmen had welcomed the train when it arrived at Biratnagar Customs Yard on Monday. The service was inaugurated with a formal program on Tuesday.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The railway was operated on a trial basis in 2080 BS with an aim to bring cargo train to the Integrated Check Post (ICP) of Biratnagar on a regular basis after the trial of the railway <\/p>\n
. But due to policy complexities, lack of procedural coordination and administrative hurdles, the service could not be regularized. <\/p>\n
The route for regular operation of cargo train from Kolkata to Biratnagar has been opened after the necessary coordination and policy knots were loosened between the concerned bodies of Nepal and India in recent period. According to the industrialists, if this service can be operated continuously, there will be a long-term positive impact on the industrial production, import-export, transportation management and overall industrial competitiveness of eastern Nepal <\/p>\n
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Khemraj Sapkota, Nepal News Bank Biratnagar. Industrialists and businessmen of eastern Nepal have been elated after a cargo train carrying imported goods from third countries under the Nepal-India Transit Agreement arrived directly from the Indian port Kolkata to Biratnagar for the first time. Industrialists have termed it as a ‘game changer’ and ‘milestone’ for theContinue reading “Kolkata-Biratnagar cargo train service enthuses industrialists”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":78251,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[147],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-78268","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-samachar-en"],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/arthakhabar.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/photo-15_e52570d4-scaled.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/arthakhabar.com\/ak_api\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78268","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/arthakhabar.com\/ak_api\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/arthakhabar.com\/ak_api\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arthakhabar.com\/ak_api\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=78268"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/arthakhabar.com\/ak_api\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78268\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":78293,"href":"https:\/\/arthakhabar.com\/ak_api\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78268\/revisions\/78293"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arthakhabar.com\/ak_api\/wp\/v2\/media\/78251"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/arthakhabar.com\/ak_api\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=78268"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arthakhabar.com\/ak_api\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=78268"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arthakhabar.com\/ak_api\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=78268"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}