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Indian Railways operated its first-ever direct commercial container freight train — 40 wagons carrying canola — from Kolkata Port to Biratnagar Customs Yard, Nepal, under the revised India-Nepal Rail Transit Protocol, eliminating transshipment at the border.
The service builds on the broad-gauge Jogbani (India)-Biratnagar (Nepal) rail link, jointly inaugurated by PM Modi and Nepal's PM in June 2023; the revised Rail Transit Protocol followed a Letter of Exchange signed in November 2025.
Direct rail movement is expected to cut transit time, logistics costs and cargo handling for India-Nepal cross-border trade, benefiting exporters, importers and logistics operators.
Enable direct, seamless end-to-end rail freight movement between India and Nepal without border transshipment
Key: Amended under the India-Nepal Treaty of Transit via a Letter of Exchange (Nov 2025); permits containerised and bulk cargo from Kolkata and Visakhapatnam ports to Nepal rail points, including Biratnagar
Operates the cross-border freight service to Nepal
Governing bilateral treaty under which the Rail Transit Protocol was amended to permit direct commercial rail freight to Nepal
Transshipment requires cargo to be unloaded from one mode/vehicle and reloaded onto another at a border or port, adding cost, time and damage risk. A direct through-transport arrangement — as now enabled between Kolkata Port and Biratnagar — lets the same rail consignment travel end-to-end without this break-of-bulk, which is the core efficiency gain here
Simple Analogy: It's the difference between a direct flight and one with a layover requiring you to change planes and recheck your bags
GS Paper 2 > India and its Neighbourhood > Nepal
Occasional — a genuine 'first' likely to recur as connectivity milestones follow
The bilateral treaty governing Nepal's transit trade rights through Indian territory, since Nepal is landlocked