KATHMANDU – People of a dozen of villages in Dhanusha are elated with the news that a railway service from Kurtha in the district to Jayanagar of India will be coming into operation within a month. The news has infused enthusiasm among the folks of Janakpurdham Sub Metropolis, Aurahi rural municipality and Janak Nandani rural municipality among others. They are excited that their dream of boarding the train would be finally coming true.
“It has been long that the railway track was readied, but the service is still non-operational, making us disappointed,” said Bishwolal Yadav of Aurahi rural municipality-6. He added that a test operation made by the Nepal Railway Company few days ago instilled a ray of hope among the Dhanusha folks that their dream of getting the service will be soon materialized.
Ramesh Mandal of Janaknandani rural municipality who provided his valuable piece of land to be used for the construction of railway is excited by the news that the service would be coming into operation soon. On September 18, 2020, two train sets were purchased from the Indian Railway Corporation at the cost of Rs 846.5 million. Since then, the rail engines have been kept at Inarwa of Janaknandani rural municipality in district.
Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba and India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi are scheduled to inaugurate the 35-kilometres railway service that stretches from Jayanagar in India to Kurtha in Dhanusha district, said the Nepal Railway Company. Niranjan Jha, General Manager of the Nepal Railway Company, shared, “We are preparing to operate Jayanagar-Kurtha train service from the third week of February this year.” According to him, there was no any issue to operate the rail service now. Only official inaugural was left.
Jha said that the railway service is expected to commence regularly once it is jointly inaugurated by the Prime Ministers of the both countries. He admitted, “I can’t say right now when the train will run but preparation is afoot to run from the second or third week of February this year.”
According to Jha, only sizeable number of employees has been appointed currently and they have been trained and mobilized to run the railway efficiently. “The train will run once a day in the first 15 days after the inauguration,” informed Jha. According to him, the fare from Jayanagar to Kurtha has been fixed at Rs 70 for ordinary seats and Rs 300 for AC seats Although the train is being prepared to roll, parts of the clips of railway’s tracks are being stolen while vegetable markets and shops are being set up in the railway illegally. Domestic animals are being left to graze in and around the railway.
Jha called for cooperation from all quarters to ease the disruption in running the railway services on the stipulated time. According to Jha, all should cooperate for clearance of disturbance such as removal of illegally set up vegetable markets and shops, and stopping the domestic animals to roam around the railway.
