India-Nepal JWG meeting reviews cross-border rail link projects

During the 4th India-Nepal Joint Working Group meeting, both sides reviewed the cross-border rail link projects that are between Jaynagar-Bijalpura-Bardibas and Jogbani-Biratnagar under advance implementation.

A India-Nepal joint working group meeting on railway cooperation was held on Friday through video-conferencing to review the cross-border rail link projects that will benefit people of the two neighbouring countries. During the 4th India-Nepal Joint Working Group meeting, both sides reviewed the cross-border rail link projects that are between Jaynagar-Bijalpura-Bardibas and Jogbani-Biratnagar under advance implementation. "Both sides discussed the technical preparedness of the completed 34 km long section of the railway line between Jaynagar in India and Kurtha in Nepal for running passenger train services, including the Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) that need to be put in place for the resumption of passenger train services by Nepal Railway Company (NRC)," the Indian Embassy said here in a statement.

The section, originally a narrow gauge built by British India, was upgraded by the Government of India to broad gauge at a cost of over INR 380 crores. "Both sides also discussed the mutual facilitation and coordination required for completion of the work on remaining sections from Kurtha to Bilajpura, currently under construction by the Government of India at a cost of INR 200 crores. Both sides further agreed to expedite the work for completion of the other ongoing cross-border railway project between Jogbani in India and Biratnagar in Nepal under a grant assistance of INR 374 crores. The Indian side to the meeting was led by Manoj Singh, Executive Director (Traffic Transportation-F), the Ministry of Railways while the Nepali side was headed by Gopal Prasad Sigdel, Joint Secretary in the Ministry of Physical Infrastructure and Transport. The meeting took place ahead of the expected visit to Nepal by Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla later this month. In September, India handed over two modern trains to Nepal that would run between Jaynagar in Bihar and Kurtha in Dhanusa district from mid-December, marking the beginning of the first broad-gauge railway service in the Himalayan nation.