Raxaul is a sub-divisional town in the East Champaran district of the Indian state of Bihar. It is situated on the India–Nepal border and shares its boundary with the city of Birgunj in Nepal. India-Nepal border town of Raxaul faces infrastructure woes, The Hindu Raxaul serves as a major railway junction for both domestic and cross-border transport. Raxaul Railway Junction Details, Indian Railways
The other part of Raxaul is Mehsi, which is renowned for its production of high-quality litchi that are exported globally. Mehsi Litchi Becomes a Brand in the World Market, Dainik Jagran
The Indian border town of Raxaul has become one of the busiest towns for heavy transportation due to high trade volume. Almost 56% of the total products of Birgunj are exported to the Indian States of Bihar through this route.
India census, Raxaul Bazar had a population of 104,532. Males constitute 54% of the population and females 46%. Raxaul Bazar has an average literacy rate of 75.62%, higher than the state average of 61.80%: male literacy is 82.14%, and female literacy is 68.25%. In Raxaul Bazar, 16.21% of the population is under 6 years of age. People communicate with each other in the Bhojpuri language.
1. Post-Treaty of Sugauli (1816):
Following the Anglo-Nepal War, the Treaty of Sugauli established the boundary between Nepal and British India. Raxaul’s location on this newly demarcated border made it a natural gateway for the movement of goods, people, and administrative control between the two territories.
2. Rise as a Trade and Transport Hub:
As the British colonial administration sought to regulate trade and secure the border, Raxaul developed into an important customs and transport center. With the construction of railway lines—most notably the Sugauli–Raxaul line built in 1896—the town became a major railway junction. This connectivity facilitated heavy cross-border trade, with a significant volume of goods (including those from Nepal’s Birgunj) passing into Bihar.
3. Administrative and Policing Challenges:
The porous nature of the border led to a mix of legal and illegal activities. The colonial authorities established several border posts and searching stations in the surrounding districts (such as Patna, Champaran, and Muzaffarpur) to monitor and control smuggling—especially of arms and opium. Raxaul, by virtue of its strategic position, was central to these efforts. At the same time, the town witnessed organized criminal activities like mail robberies and cattle lifting, highlighting the difficulties in enforcing colonial rule over such a fluid and challenging border region.
4. Impact of Shifting Geography:
The region’s landscape—dominated by the terai with its dense forests and ever-changing river courses—compounded the task of rigid border demarcation. This inherent instability required the colonial administration to adopt flexible, often transactional, methods of border management. Raxaul’s evolution as a trade center was directly influenced by these geographical challenges and the need to negotiate them on a day-to-day basis.
Raxaul is connected to several cities in Bihar with daily passenger trains. There are multiple daily connections to Muzaffarpur, Sugauli, Chakia, Bairgania and Sitamarhi and daily connections to Bagaha, Hajipur, Samastipur, Motihari and Narkatiaganj.
Daily express trains connect to Delhi with stops in major cities in Uttar Pradesh including Gorakhpur and Bareilly. Kolkata is also connected by a daily express train ; the train being 13021 Howrah Raxaul Mithila Express.
There are also direct trains to Lucknow and Varanasi with stops in several towns in Uttar Pradesh. Chhapra, Patna, chakia, Jabalpur, Mumbai, Darbhanga, Barauni, Dhanbad, Bokaro, Ranchi, Rourkela, Bilaspur, Raipur, Nagpur and Hyderabad are also connected by weekly or multiple weekly trains.
Delhi is connected via Satyagraha Express and Sadbhawna Express. Earlier, all tracks were metre gauge but most have been converted to broad gauge. After the completion of the gauge conversion from Darbhanga to Raxaul via Sitamarhi, another broad gauge route to Raxaul became available from March 2014. The metre gauge track from Raxaul to Narkatiaganj converted in 2018/august.03 pair passenger trains operated in this route.
It is the main route to Nepal. The capital of Nepal, Kathmandu is connected with India through this highway. There is a bus terminal from where buses are available for most of the cities in Bihar and Jharkhand.
Now, there is currently no scheduled commercial air service. Raxaul can be reached by flying to Simara in Nepal. That airport is 27 km from Raxaul and has direct flights to Kathmandu. A proposal to operationalize the airport for civilian use has been drafted.
6,742 |
2,736 |
0 |
3,406 |
3,561 |
10,471 |
929 |
2,877 |
1,983 |
2,061 |
3,284 |
1,983 |
1,916 |
11,458 |
6,567 |
4,918 |
1,760 |
6,543 |
9,703 |
2,266 |
2,448 |
3,554 |
2,866 |
7,378 |
172 |
9,379 |
13,390 |
4,421 |
9,455 |
2,845 |
8,499 |
3,496 |
2,215 |
1,637 |
2,496 |
1,628 |
2,496 |
2,496 |
2,496 |
2,496 |
2,496 |
2,496 |
55,536 |
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