Bijalpura-Bardibas railway construction under Indian assistance to start soon: Nepal PM Oli

Kathmandu [Nepal], February 16 (ANI): Nepali Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli informed the lower house of the federal parliament on Sunday that Bijalpura-Bardibas railways construction under Indian assistance will start soon.
In answer to the questions raised by lawmakers, Oli stated that the new railway construction trench measuring about 17 kilometres would be initiated soon.
"Janakpur- Jaynagar- Kurtha- Bijalpura railway that stretches to 52 kilometres has been completed with rail ferrying back and forth on a daily basis. The rail operates three times a day between Jaynagar-Janakpur whereas the rail operates one time every day between Janakpur- Bijalpura. The additional stretch of Bijalpura- Bardibas measuring 17 kilometres will soon go into action with the assistance of the Government of India." Prime Minister Oli said.
Currently, Nepal and India have a passenger railway service operational from the bordering Indian town-Jayanagar to Nepal's Bijalpura in Mahottari district. There is a plan to extend the cross-border railway to Bardibas of Mahottari district. The broad gauge railway line is being built with India's grant assistance.
The construction of the Bijalpura-Bardibas section was delayed and it took a long time to distribute compensations for the acquired land.
Earlier in July 2023, 17.3 Kilometers of railway service between the Kurtha-Bijalapura section of the cross-border railway line started. This section was built under the second phase of the railway project and handed over to Nepal during the visit of then-Nepali Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal to India.
The then prime minister Sher Bahadur Deuba and his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi flagged off the Kurtha-Janakpur-Jayanagar train service in April 2022, officially resuming the cross-border railway between the two countries. Initially, the railway was operated in the Kurtha-Janakpur-Jayanagar section, which was later expanded to Bijalpura.
It was considered a milestone in strengthening cross-border connectivity between Nepal and India. This is Nepal's first cross-border broad gauge railroad and the first rail link between the two countries to be operationalised since the rail services were halted in 2014 for infrastructure upgrade.
The Jayanagar-Bijalpura-Bardibas cross-border rail line is being constructed with the Indian government's grant assistance, with a total project cost of INR 783.83 crores (NRs12.54 billion).
The Jayanagar-Kurtha-Bijalpura-Bardibas railway is one of the five cross-border links being planned between Nepal and India. Besides this, India has already expressed its commitment to extending cross-border rail to Kakarbhitta, Biratnagar, Janakpur, Bhairahawa, and Nepalgunj by linking them to the closest Indian railway stations. (ANI)