Dhanusha, Jan 18 : The much talked-about Janakpur-Jayanagar Railway is coming into operation from the second week of February. Nepal Railway Company general manager Guru Bhattarai said the necessary preparations for operation of the railway service have reached the final phase and it would be started from the second week of the next month.

Train service would be operated on 35 kilometres distance from Jayanagar in India’s Bihar state up to Kurtha in Janakpur.
“Necessary structures like the railway track, station, signal etc. have been readied. The Indian technicians have also conducted tests of these structures. No technical work remains for operating the railway service on this section now,” he said.

According to General Manager Bhattarai, the key technical human resources are coming to Nepal from India within January 28 for operating the railway service. He shared that a memorandum of understanding would be reached with Konkarna railway Corporation owned by the Government of India for this purpose. “The required documents have also been prepared and 26 main technical human resources, including driver and engineers, are in a ready position to come to Nepal from India,” he said.

General Manager Bhattarai further shared that the railway service would be started immediately by taking 45 staffs from the civil service and 60 retired staffs from the Railway Service, in addition to the Indian technical staff. Various tests that are required to be conducted for operation of the railway service would be done and the Nepali staffers would also be trained after the arrival by January 28 of the key technical human resources from India.

Two ‘demo trains’, brought from India on September 18 for operation on the Jayanagar to Kurtha section in the first phase, have been parked at the Inaruwa-based station at present. The Council of Ministers has already given the responsibility of security of the railway to the Armed Police Force (APF) Nepal. One hundred and twenty-six APF security persons have been providing security on the Jayanagar-Kurtha section of the railway.

Railway tickets as well as other software required for the operation of the service have already been prepared. The railway fare on the 35 kilometres section from Jayanagar to Kurtha is Rs 70 per person on ordinary class and Rs 300 per person in AC class.

The fare will increased by Rs 15 maximum on every kilometer in the ordinary class while it has been fixed five times more than that of the ordinary compartment fare, in the AC compartment.

There are five stations between Jayanagar and Kurtha: Jayanagar, Inarwa, Khajuri, Baidehi and Kurtha. (RSS)