The first broad-gauge passenger railway service linking Bihar’s Jaynagar with Kurtha in Nepal’s Janakpur city has completed a year of operation and is reportedly running profitably. According to a media report published on Tuesday, the 35-kilometre-long railway line started commercial operation on April 3, 2022, and has been making two round trips between its destinations daily.
The Rising Nepal newspaper further reported that the Jaynagar-Kurtha section, which is 35 km long, of which 3 km lies in Bihar and the rest in Nepal, was virtually inaugurated last year by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his then-Nepalese counterpart Sher Bahadur Deuba. The railway line is part of the Jaynagar-Bijalpura-Bardibas rail link, executed with grant assistance of Rs 548 crore from India.
According to the report, the rail service resumed operations last year after being closed for more than a decade. “We were worried about whether we would get passengers or be able to make a profit,” said General Manager of Nepal Railway Company Limited (NRCL), Niranjan Kumar Jha. “Thankfully, these worries proved futile, and now, the number of passengers is increasing daily,” Jha added.
The Jaynagar-Kurtha section consists of eight stations, Jaynagar in India, Inarwa (border station), Khajuri, Mahinathpur, Baidehi, Parwaha, Janakpur, and Kurtha. The train service has boosted the local economy by increasing the movements of religious tourists, said the General Secretary of Janakpurdham Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Manoj Sah.
This railway service is the first broad-gauge passenger rail link between the two countries, providing a new dimension for cross-border connectivity. Prior to this, an existing rail service operated on a metre-gauge rail link between Jaynagar and Janakpur until 2014. The completion of the new passenger railway service marks a significant milestone in the transportation sector and will undoubtedly benefit the people of both countries.
(With agency inputs)