India hands over Jaynagar-Kurtha rail section to Nepal

Indian Ambassador of India to Nepal Vinay Mohan Kwatra (L) and Minister for Physical Infrastructure and Transport Renu Kumari Yadav during the hand-over ceremony. (Photo: Indian Embassy)

NL Today

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Kathmandu: India has handed over the Jaynagar-Kurtha cross-border rail section, built with Indian assistance, to Nepal on Friday.

Indian Ambassador of India to Nepal Vinay Mohan Kwatra and Minister for Physical Infrastructure and Transport Renu Kumari Yadav were present at the handing-over ceremony.

The executing agency for the project, IRCON International Ltd (on behalf of the 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 India, the gauge conversion of 34.9 km 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 the 68.72 km Jaynagar-Bijalpura- Bardibas rail link being built under Go Indian 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, Indian Embassy said in a statement.

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 Indian grant assistance.