DHAKA, April 24 (Xinhua) -- The trial run of the Bangladesh-Nepal bus service through India began here on Monday.
Two buses carrying delegates of the three nations and led by Fariduddin Ahmed, chairman of Bangladesh Road Transport Corporation, were flagged off from Bangladesh capital Dhaka.
The buses are scheduled to arrive in Kathmandu, Nepal, on April 26, via Shiliguri, India.
On completion of the trial run, officials of the countries will submit a report, based on which a protocol will be signed to pave the way for commercial bus services between Dhaka and Kathmandu through India that also comes under the BBIN (Bangladesh-Bhutan-India-Nepal) Motor Vehicles Agreement, which the countries signed in June 2015 to enable movement of passenger and cargo vehicles.
The driving distance between Kathmandu and Dhaka is about 1,200 km.
Operators say the proposed route, that is to cut short the journey by more than 100 km, would likely to be popular with passengers against the back drop of a recent tragedy at Tribhuvan International Airport in Kathmandu, where dozens were killed when a Bangladeshi U.S.-Bangla plane crashed on landing.