KATHMANDU, 11 July 2021, (TON): India and Nepal have signed a letter of exchange (LoE) to the India-Nepal Rail Services Agreement (RSA) 2004.

A virtual ceremony was held to exchange notes verbales and signed copies of the LoE, between the two governments. From the Indian side, the ceremony was led by Sanjay Kumar Mohanty, member of operations and business development at the Ministry of Railways.

From the Nepali side, it was led by Dinesh Bhattarai, secretary at the Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Supplies. The ceremony was conducted in presence of Ambassador of India to Nepal, Vinay Mohan Kwatra; the Ambassador of Nepal to India, Nilamber Acharya; Joint Secretary (North), Ministry of External Affairs of India, Anurag Srivastava; and Joint Secretary (South Asia), Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Nepal, Tirtha Raj Wagle. Also present were representatives from the two embassies and concerned ministries of both the governments.

With the entering into force of the LoE, all authorised cargo train operators which includes public and private container trains operators, automobile freight train operators, special freight train operators or any other operator authorised by Indian Railways will be able to utilise the Indian railway network to carry Nepal's container and other freight - both bilateral between India and Nepal or third country from Indian ports to Nepal.