Nepal will not allow people from third countries to travel to India by rail via the Kurtha-Jayanagar railroad after Indian officials expressed security concerns, a senior official of the Department of Railways has said. Deepak Kumar Bhattarai, director general at the department, said, “This was agreed while finalising the Standard Operating Procedure (SPA) for cross-border railway operation.”

The SPA is a document outlining the procedures to be adopted while operating the railway service. Nepal and India signed it in New Delhi last month. According to Bhattarai, India's security concern was one of the reasons why it took so long to finalise the SPA. With Nepal and India sharing a porous border, India has always been suspicious about the possibility of criminals and terrorists using the border to cause harm to India.