Nepal-India railway line from Jaynagar to Kurtha completes 1 year

The first broad-gauge passenger railway service connecting Bihar's Jaynagar with Kurtha in Nepal's Janakpur city completed a year of operation and is running profitably, a media report said on Tuesday.

The 35-kilometre railway line started its commercial operation on April 3, 2022, and has been making two round trips between its destinations daily, The Rising Nepal newspaper said.

It was virtually inaugurated last year by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his then-Nepalese counterpart Sher Bahadur Deuba.

The Jaynagar-Kurtha section is 35 km long and 3 km of which lies in Bihar and the rest in Nepal. It 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 started operations last year after remaining closed for more than a decade.

We were worried about whether we would get passengers or be able to make a profit, General Manager of Nepal Railway Company Limited (NRCL), Niranjan Kumar Jha, was quoted as saying in the report.

Thankfully, these worries proved futile, and now, the number of passengers is increasing daily, Jha added.

The train service boosted the local economy by increasing the movements of religious tourists, the General Secretary of Janakpurdham Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Manoj Sah, was quoted as saying in the report.

The Jaynagar-Kurtha section consists of eight stations, Jaynagar in India, Inarwa (border station), Khajuri, Mahinathpur, Baidehi, Parwaha, Janakpur and Kurtha.

It is the first broad-gauge passenger rail link between the two countries and provides a new dimension for cross-border connectivity.

Till 2014, this was an existing rail service on a metre-gauge rail link between Jaynagar and Janakpur.