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India to open railway link to Nepal

KATHMANDU Nov. 8. India will open a railway link to landlocked Nepal from Kolkata by March, an official said here today.The train will make the 800-km journey in 36 hours against six days by road and reduce transport costs by $16.2 million a year, Purushottam Ojha, Joint Secretary in Nepal's Commerce Ministry, told Reuters.

On Friday, the two countries agreed to run trains on a 5.3-km track between Sirsiya, a dry port in Nepal and the Indian town of Raxaul, from where trains can travel to Kolkata.

``It is a major agreement that will greatly ease our transit problems and help boost trade,'' he said.The first train would roll into Nepal by March after a private India-Nepal joint venture company takes over the management of the dry port, Mr. Ojha said.

Nepal does not have a railway network except a small stretch of tracks set up by Britain 66 years ago to export timber.

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