The Birganj container port will receive its first goods train with the arrival of a train from Kolkata port, four years behind schedule.

The port was completed in 2000 with World Bank aid and is being managed by the Container Corporation of India and will facilitate better transit from Kolkata and Haldia of goods bound to and from Nepal.

The train that left Kolkata Dock on Monday will be the first Indian train to cross national boundaries when it arrives in Birganj on 16 July, covering the 762 km in three days. Consul general of Nepal in Kolkata Yuba Raj Bhusal, who flagged off the train, told The Statesman newspaper: "Traders in Nepal used to complain of that it was difficult to transport containers from Indian ports. This mode of transport will solve that problem and it will be cost effective too." The train is carrying wheat and soya beans for the World Food Program's activities in Nepal.