The 17-km Kurtha-Bijalpura broad gauge railway line has come into operation. Minister for Physical Infrastructure and Transport Prakash Jwala inaugurated the railway track constructed by the Indian railway company Ircon International.

Ircon had completed the construction of the project and its General Manager, Deepak Kumar, handed over the infrastructure to Niranjan Jha, General Manager of Nepal Railway Company (NRC) on June 1 this year. Following the handover of the facility, the NRC made arrangements to operate rail service in the extended section of the 52-km Jayanagar-Janakpur-Bijalpura railway line.

This is Nepal’s only and cross-border railway line for passenger services. Rail cargo service is operational at Birgunj customs as well.

As Minister Jwala signalled the commencement of railway service from Bijalpura station by waving a green flag on Sunday, local people expressed their joy as the service had resumed after 21 years. According to Rohit Kumar Bisural, General Manager of the Department of Railway, the then narrow-gauge train track which was in operation since the Rana period, was out of service after a flood swept away the track bridge over the Ratu River in 2002. At that time, this train was called Nepal Janakpur-Jayanagar Railway, or NJJR.