Sunday 21 February 2016

India – Bangladesh-Nepal rail transit

It is a symphony of Himalaya and Bay of Bengal. India and Nepal have signed the long-stalled letters of exchange (LoEs).  India has  has agreed to provide transit facilities for Nepal through the Visakhapatnam port along with the signing of LoE called ‘Operationalisation of Visakhapatnam Port’. Henceforth, Nepal will be able to use Visakhapatnam Port as another gateway for third-country trade like the Kolkata Port.

In other hand Transit between Nepal and Bangladesh through Kakarbitta-Banglabandha is al so very important for Bangladesh. It will increase the the business opportunity for Bangladesh also.

The distance between Kakarvitta Land Customs Station (LCS) in Nepal and Banglabandha LCS of Bangladesh is around 54 km. The Siliguri Corridor of India is situated in between the two LCSs.

The Kakarvitta point has Panitanki LCS on the Indian side, while it is Phulbari on the Indian side of the Banglabandha LCS.

The railway transit will help connect Birgunj and Biratnagar (Jogbani) in Nepal with Bangladesh via the Singhabad-Rohanpur interchange point, which is the nearest and most economical route.

Operationalisation of Vishakhapatnam Port in Andhra Pradesh and for rail transport to and from Vishakhapatnam would also help Nepal boost its trade with third countries.

The rail distance between Birgunj and Dhaka is over 950 km, while from Biratnagar it is 535 km. The distance between Birgunj and Chittagong, a major port in Bangladesh, is 1,148 km, while from Biratnagar it is 843 km.
The rail distance between Birgunj to Kolkata is 700 km, while to Haldia in West Bengal it is over 800 km. Likewise, the rail distance from Biratnagar to Kolkata is 600 km and to Haldia it is 708 km.

‘Rail Transit Facility Through Singabad for Nepal’s Trade With and Through Bangladesh’ is not oly hel Nepal ,it will help Bangladesh too. Thins opportunity emerged when Indian PM Narendra Modi and Bangladesh PM Sheikh Hasina singed treaty to give the land to use for business purpose to the third country.

LoE on ‘Rail Transit Facility Through Singabad for Nepal’s Trade With and Through Bangladesh’ will help operationalise rail transit facility through Singabad in India for Nepal’s trade with and through Bangladesh.

in transit to and from Nepal and Bangladesh shall move through Indian territory by rail using Singabad Railway Station (Malda,West Bengal, India) and Rohanpur Railway Station in Bangladesh.

It is hoped that that the area of Singbad, (Malda,West Bengal, India) will get a boost both economically and socially. There is an opportunity of Singbad to emerge as a different kind of economic hub.

Construction of the Integrated Check Posts (ICPs) at the border points is highly need in near future. Indian PM Narendra Modi also stated the significance of ICP.


But security is an important point for the three nations. All there nation hopefully already thought some strong plan regarding that. But in all aspect it is clear that this transit will open a new era for Indo-Bangla- Napel relation.

Arindam Chatterjee

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