Northeast Frontier Railway aims trade collaborations with Bhutan; meeting held

Guwahati (Assam) [India], November 1 (ANI): A business development meeting was recently held between the Northeast Frontier Railway's (NFR's) Alipurduar division and delegations from the government of Bhutan, which have members from their foreign ministry, trade bodies and chamber of commerce.
The meeting was held aiming towards trade collaborations between NFR and the government of Bhutan, which could support the logistics avenues for future linkages with Bhutan.
Sabyasachi De, Chief Public Relations Officer (CPRO) of NFR, said, "The delegations from Bhutan visited Hasimara railway station where an infrastructure is being strategically developed by NFR for enabling trade with Bhutan."
"A plan to build a siding along with a warehouse in collaborations with the Central Warehousing Corporation is underway to promote logistic trade with Bhutan. In fact, Indian Railways has already delivered its first consignment of goods to Bhutan through a multi-modal route consisting of 75 utility vehicles," the CPRO of NF Railway said.
The vehicles were transported from Chennai to Hasimara railway station by New Modified Goods (NMG) rake, a rake specially designed to transport light motor vehicles (LMV), that reached Alipurduar division on 28th October, 2022. Further the consignment was taken to Bhutan by roadways," the CPRO of NF Railway said.
The delegation intends to visit Changrabandha station in the near future.
Sabyasachi De further said that issues related to the movement of automobiles, cement, stone commodities, and augmenting people-to-people connection and tourism development were also discussed.
The Alipurduar division highlighted the vision of railways as the prime eco-friendly mode of transportation for goods logistics to the delegates of Bhutan government. The division also noted this mode of transportation as a sustainable option for mass movement in the country and also in Southeast Asia.
"Railway explained to the delegates of Bhutan government the cost competitiveness and strategic abilities to transport goods in bulk and expeditiously to markets across India and Bhutan. Indian Railways already new projects for cross-border linkages by laying a broad-gauge railway track from Kokrajhar in India to Gelephu in Bhutan," the CPRO of NFR said. (ANI)