Railway service between Bathana, India, and Biratnagar is set to start within a month, according to officials.

A team from the Department of Railways and the Ministry of External Affairs, India, inspected the railway construction site on Friday.

Balaram Mishra, director general of the Department of Railways, said works on the 7.6km segment of the 18.6km railway line were at their final stages.

Our target is to start train service from Bathana till Lawaghat, the eastern part of Budhanagar Customs Yard in Biratnagar, by October 31, he added.Pradip Kumar, joint general manager of the Indian Railway Construction Company Limited (IRCON), said after Bathana-Biratnagar railway is completed, they will start the works to extend the railway line up to Rangeli-Biratnagar road.The Rs 4.48 billion Bathana-Biratnagar broad-gauge railway is being constructed with the technical and financial assistance of India.

The railway service is expected to improve the import and export of goods between the two countries. It will serve as an alternative to the Biratnagar-Jogbani border point from where the factories based at Sunsari-Morang Industrial Corridor import their raw materials on cargo lorries before the finished products are exported to India via the same route.