After eight years of labor, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Nepal counterpart Sher Bahadur Deuba collectively flagged off the cross-border practice service between Bihar’s Jayanagar and Nepal’s Kurtha, with the Hindu pilgrimage metropolis of Janakpur Dham — the legendary birthplace of Sita — in between , via video hyperlink on Saturday.
This goes to be Nepal’s first broad gauge passenger practice service, all of which has been hand-held by India from the beginning.
Part of the 68.73-km Jaynagar-Bardibas practice service from Nepal facet past Janakpur needed to be stopped resulting from flooding of some railway bridges in 2001, whereas service from Janakpur to Jaynagar continued till March 2014 when India and Nepal determined to go for changing your entire slender gauge hyperlink into broad gauge.
“PM Deuba ji and I also agreed to give priority to trade and cross-border connectivity initiatives in all respects. The beginning of the Jayanagar-Kurtha rail line is a part of this,” Modi stated on the joint press meet with Deuba in Delhi. “Such schemes will make a great contribution for smooth, hassle-free exchange of people between the two countries.”
Ties on monitor
New Delhi is footing the development invoice of Rs 784 crore for your entire 68.73-km monitor between Bihar’s Jaynagar and Nepal’s Bardibas as a grant to the neighboring nation. It’s an out-and-out India present with Railway-arm IRCON finishing up the design and building and one other PSU, the Konkan Railway Corporation Limited (KRCL), slated to assist the Nepal Railway Company in operations and upkeep, together with coaching of manpower. KRCL has already equipped two units of 1,600 horsepower Diesel Electric Multiple Unit passenger trains to run at a prime pace of 100 kmph.
The undertaking is being funded by the Ministry of External Affairs, as the road is a small hyperlink to the bigger scheme of issues in deepening India’s ties with Nepal via Railways — individuals and freight motion — bypassing the affect of different neighboring nations on this strategically very important area, sources stated.
“We both are confident that further connectivity projects, roads, railways, can gain further momentum. Likewise Prime Minister Modi and I have discussed further cooperation in civil aviation,” Deuba stated.
The subsequent stretch of 17 km from Kurtha to Bijalpura can also be getting ending touches. For the remainder of the portion as much as Bardibas, land is being handed over to IRCON.
The rail hyperlink line has been well-liked because the early twentieth Century. The British had constructed the slender gauge line in 1937 to ferry cargo, primarily logs, from Nepal to India. However, over time, it grew to become a preferred passenger service for individuals of the 2 nations.
The Jayanagar-Bijalpura-Bardibas rail undertaking passes via Madhubani district of Bihar and agricultural and densely populated districts of Dhanusa, Mahottari and Siraha in Nepal.
In the primary section, Inerva, Khajuri, Mahinathpur halt, Baidehi, Careha halt, and Janakpur Dham stations have been constructed between the entire Jayanagar-Kurtha rail part. Custom check-points have been created at Jayanagar in India and Innerva in Nepal. The Jaynagar station has a parallel station constructing operated by Nepal Railway Company for this line.
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With inputs from TheIndianEXPRESS
