Laying of track for the Jayanagar-Janakpur-Kurtha train service has almost been completed.
A train carrying track ballast (stones) to prepare the trackbed to lay the railway track had arrived in Janakpur from Jayanagar, India in the third week of October.
Officials say they will start regular train operation from Jayanagar-Kurtha by the end of 2018. But the government has yet to decide whether to buy or rent trains.
Prime Minister (PM) KP Sharma Oli wishes to buy trains for operation, according to a Department of Railway official.
Secretary at the Ministry of Physical Infrastructure and Transport Madhusudan Adhikari said the government is discussing on both the options. “It seems to be not so easy to buy a train. It should be a type of train that we need. We should place an order to manufacture otherwise,” Adhikari said. “We are for buying as far as possible. But we are also mulling to rent if we don’t get to buy the kind that we want.”
A set of train to operate in the 35-kilometer Jayanagar-Kurtha route would cost around Rs 500 million, according to the department which says at least two sets are necessary to start operation. “We need at least two sets as there should be another if there is problem in one,” Director General (DG) at the department Balaram Mishra said.
A ministry team led by secretary Adhikari, meanwhile, has returned after studying about train operation in Mumbai, India. The team studied operation of the 600-kilometer train route between Mumbai and Goa, according to DG Mishra.
“We observed how they manage safety, light, signs, stations and staffers,” Mishra said. “Operating a train apparently is like operating a ship.”
Staffers of Konkan Railway Corporation Limited, that has done field study of the Kathmandu-Raxaul railway, accompanied the Nepali team for the field study in India.
