Vital India-Nepal Railway Project From Janakpur to Jayanagar on Track

By
EurAsian Times Desk
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Nepal expects the first India-Nepal broad gauge railway project by December. Describing the good state of India-Nepal relations, this rail link will connect Janakpur in South Eastern Nepal and Jayanagar in India. This project will be the first ever broad-gauge passenger railway service in Nepal. This rail link between India and Nepal is a 69km cross-border railway link.

Besides this cross-border railway link between India and Nepal, five more railway projects linking the two nations are either in the planning phase or under construction. According to Global Times, a senior official of Department of Railway said that Nepal targets to make the rail route operational by December.

There was already a railway line between Janakpur and Jayanagar, but that was on the narrow gauge. However, the narrow gauge railway link came to a halt around five years ago due to renovation and other issues. As of now, Nepal does not have any operational railway services.

Once this railway project is completed, Nepal will hire Indian crew members to run and operate the railway service, as Nepal lacks the human resources needed. Nepal may also choose to take rail wagons on lease from India to start operations soon between Janakpur and Jayanagar.

Riding on the newly formed rise in China-Nepal Relations, China will be developing a petroleum products exploration centre in Nepal all along the Indian border. This oil production centre is a part of the 14 point agreement signed between Nepal and China. Ten exploration centres will be set up under the agreement. This can be seen as a big development in China-Nepal ties and a possible security for India.

China expressed interest in conducting oil and gas exploration in Nepal in 2016. The China Geological Survey has drafted a preliminary work plan two months ago which was further sent to the Department of Mines. In May 2016 feasibility analysis was done at different ten locations in Nepal. What followed this survey was a memorandum of understanding between China and Nepal hence consolidating China-Nepal relations. This memorandum of understanding was signed in the month of August.

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