KATHMANDU: India has handed over the Jaynagar-Kurtha cross-border rail link that was built with the Government of India (GOI)’s assistance to the Government of Nepal on Friday.
Ambassador of India to Nepal Vinay Mohan Kwatra handed over the Minister for Physical Infrastructure and Transport Renu Kumari Yadav witnessed the handover ceremony.
The executing agency for the project, IRCON International Ltd (on behalf of Government of India) handed over the assets of the section to Nepal Railway Company Limited (on behalf of Government of Nepal) during the event.
Under the grant assistance of GoI, the gauge conversion of 34.9 kms narrow gauge section into broad gauge, from Jaynagar in India to Kurtha in Nepal, has now been completed.
The 34.9 km Jaynagar-Kurtha section is part of 68.72 km Jaynagar-Bijalpura-Bardibas rail link being built under GoI grant assistance of Rs 8.77 billion. This section was earlier a narrow gauge rail link between Jayanagar and Bijalpura. There are total eight stations and halts on the Jaynagar-Kurtha section, which include the historically important city of Janakpur.
Once operationalized, this would be the first broad gauge cross-border rail link between India and Nepal, and would further boost trade and commerce activities as well as people-to-people linkages between the two countries.
Cross-border rail linkages are an important facet of India-Nepal Development cooperation, which include Jaynagar-Bijalpura-Bardibas rail link and Jogbani-Biratnagar (18.6 km) rail link, both being constructed under GoI grant assistance.
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