Nepal, India talks on railway agreement begins

Two-day talks between Nepal and India to review the bilateral Rail Service Agreement kicked off on Thursday with Nepali officials urging Indian officials to allow operations of all forms of railway cargo between Nepali inland container depots (ICDs) and integrated check posts (ICPs) and Indian ports.
“We held talks on agendas that were exchanged prior to the meeting. Talks are moving ahead positively,” said Naindra Prasad Upadhaya, joint secretary of the Ministry of Commerce and Supplies (MoCS), who is leading Nepali team in the negotiation.
He, however, refused to divulge the details.
On the first day, the two sides reached a broad understanding on opening all types of railway cargo. However, as the minute of the talks would be finalized on Friday only, officials said it would be premature to comment.
During the talks, Nepali side expressed dissatisfaction over poor performance of Container Corporation (Concur) of India while providing service to the Nepali traders.
Traders in recent years have been complaining that Concur has not been doing its jobs properly and this, in turn, has been compelling them to pay undue demurrage charges and bear other costs. As a result, the officials in the talks pushed India to either improve the service performance of Concur or allow private railway service providers to cater to the needs of Nepali traders.
They also urged India to open railway cargo services between all ICDs and ICPs of Nepal and all the Indian ports through which Nepal is authorized to carry out third country trade. The existing railway agreement presently limits such services between Birgunj ICD and Kolkata and Haldiya ports only.
If this agenda is endorsed, it will pave the way for Nepal to operate railway cargoes between every ICDs and ICPs in Nepal and newly assigned Vishakapatnam port. It will also enable the country to trade with Bangladesh via train through Rohanpur-Singabad railway network.