Kathmandu, May 12

After one-and-a-half months of Nepal signing a transit treaty with China, the northern neighbour has opened its first combined transport service to Nepal.

People’s Daily — the official newspaper of the Chinese Communist Party — reported today that an international freight train departed from Lanzhou, the capital city of northwestern China’s Gansu province, for Nepal on Wednesday.

“The final destination is Kathmandu, Nepal, but rail transport will change over to road transport in Xigaze (Shigatse), Tibet,” it said.

China expanded the railway connectivity to Shigatse city that lies at a distance of 457 kilometres from the Nepali border of Tatopani.

Lorries need to travel 100 km more than Lhasa-Tatopani route to enter Nepal via Kyirong (China)-Rasuwagadhi.

The newspaper has said that the entire journey will take 10 days and includes three sections: 2,431 kilometres of rail transport from Lanzhou to Xigaze, 564 kilometres of road transport from Xigaze to Geelong Port in Nepal, and 160 kilometres of road transport from Geelong Port to Kathmandu.

Altogether, the combined transport would take 35 days less than traditional ocean transport would.

“The train has 43 cars and 86 cargo containers carrying daily necessities and home appliances,” the newspaper quoted the deputy general of China Railway Container Corporation as saying, without giving the name of the official.

The newspaper further mentioned that the launch of the combination service will further promote the rapid growth of

related industries in China’s Gansu province, Qinghai province, and Tibetan Autonomous Region and South Asian regions.

The Himalayan Times’ attempts to contact the officials of Chinese Embassy in Kathmandu to verify the report were not successful.

#China opens its first combined rail & road transport service to #Nepal on Wed https://t.co/WseEJRefIJ pic.twitter.com/uUDc1SVHun

— People's Daily,China (@PDChina) May 12, 2016