India hands over the Jaynagar-Kurtha cross-border rail section to Nepal

Kathmandu. Oct 23.  India on Friday handed over to Nepal the completed 34.9 km cross-border rail section between Jaynagar and Kurtha built under New Delhi’s grant assistance.

Ambassador of India to Nepal Vinay Mohan Kwatra and Nepal’s Minister for Physical Infrastructure and Transport Renu Kumari Yadav witnessed the occasion, according to a statement of the Indian Embassy in Nepal.

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 Government of India, 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-BijalpuraBardibas rail link being built under Government of India grant assistance of NPR 8.77 billion.

This section was earlier a narrow gauge rail link between Jayanagar and Bijalpura. There are eight stations and halts on the Jaynagar-Kurtha section, which include the historically important city of Janakpur, the statement added.

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 JogbaniBiratnagar (18.6 km) rail link, both being constructed under Government of India grant assistance. India News Network