For the first time, 75 cars reached Hasimara railway station in Alipurduar district and they were in turn imported to the neighbouring Bhutan via road. Hasimara, which has an Indian Air Force station, is located in a strategic area and is also Bhutan’s nearest railway station.

It is around 20km from the Bhutan border and the nearest town on the other side is Phuentsholing, the commercial capital of the Himalayan kingdom.

The cars — all SUVs made by Isuzu Motors — were loaded at the Walajabad terminal of Chennai division of the Indian Railway and on Thursday night, NMG rakes carrying the cars, reached Hasimara.

NMG rakes comprise new modified goods wagons. These are coaches which have been converted into air brake coaches during periodical overhauling to carry automobiles, said railway sources.

On Friday morning, the vehicles were unloaded from the wagons. Those were then loaded into trucks and sent to Bhutan.

“This is the first time that a rake carrying cars has been brought to Hasimara station. It is a historic day for Alipurduar railway division. We hope in future, more such items, which are imported to Bhutan, will be routed through Hasimara,” said Dilip Kumar Singh, the divisional railway manager of Alipurduar division of the Northeast Frontier Railway.

Sources said the railways were planning to carry out a comprehensive mapping of Hasimara and Dalgaon stations. Dalgaon is also closer to the Indo-Bhutan boundary.

“A few months ago, there was a meeting between railway officials and the Bhutanese authorities where the proposal to bring in cars by rail was discussed,” said a source.

The Bhutan government had recently banned the import of vehicles other than utility vehicles, agricultural machinery and earthmoving equipment because of its depleting foreign reserves. Utility vehicles which cost 20,000 USD or less can be imported.

“The ban had affected the auto market in north Bengal. In recent times, we have not heard of such a large consignment of SUVs being sent to Bhutan, that too, through our region. If vehicles are imported through this route, it would also boost the local economy and can create earning options for transporters and workers,” said Rama Shankar Gupta, the general secretary of the Jaigaon Merchants’ Association.