Janakpur-Jayanagar Railway to be Operated from Second Week of February:
The Janakpur-Jayanagar railway will be operational from the second week of February. The Nepal Railway Company has stated that the necessary preparations have been finalized to operate the 35-kilometer train service from Kurtha in Janakpur to Jayanagar in India.
Guru Bhattarai, general manager of the company, said that railway leaks, railway stations, signals, and other structures from Kurtha in Janakpur to Jayanagar in India have been prepared and tested by Indian railway technicians. He said that there is no technical work left to operate the railway in that section.
General Manager Bhattarai said that an agreement will be signed with the Konkarn Railway Corporation, which is owned by the Government of India, for the supply of 'core' technical manpower required to operate the railway service.
Stating that 26 core personnel including drivers and engineers are preparing to come to Nepal from India, he said that they will arrive in Nepal as soon as the agreement is reached. He said that the work of the agreement will be completed soon and Indian manpower will reach Nepal by January last. According to him, the necessary 'documents' for the agreement have already been prepared.
He said, "Indian manpower will arrive in Nepal within the last of January. They will test the entire railway system including the train, railway leaks in the parking lot for a week and provide necessary training to the staff here."
General Manager Bhattarai informed that it has been decided to manage the internal staff to operate the railway service. Stating that the service will be operated immediately with 46 civil servants and 60 retired railway employees, he informed that the Ministry of Physical Infrastructure and Transport has already sent a letter to the civil servants with the approval of the Ministry of General Administration.
The Council of Ministers has already handed over the responsibility of the entire security of the railways to the Armed Police Force until the railways form their own security squad. As per the cabinet meeting, 126 armed policemen are currently providing security to the railway section. In that section, two demo trains brought from India in September to operate the train service have been parked in Janakpur.
