Janakpur-Jayanagar railway service unlikely to resume by June

Published On: December 8, 2016 09:21 AM NPT By: Suresh Yadav

JANAKPUR, Dec 8: The government's target of resuming the seven-decade-old Janakpur-Jayanagar Railway Service by upgrading the track into a broad-gauge line by June, 2017, is unlikely to be met.

According to Indian officials, it is almost impossible to meet the deadline as construction work could not start as per the schedule and also the lengthy monsoon affected construction works.

The railway is being upgraded with the financial support from the Indian government.

“We have targeted to resume the railway service from June after laying down the 69-kilometer track from Jayanagar to Bardibas. But works could not progress as expected due to adverse weather condition,” a site engineer of the project told Republica.

The project has already selected contractor for blanketing works for the railway line. The contractor has to complete the task within December, 2017.

Binod Ojha, in-charge at the Janakpur site office of Railway and Metro Development Project, said the project was yet to acquire the land to lay down track in the 17-kilometer tack between Bijapura and Bardibas of Mahottari. Ojha further said that the construction work in the Indian side has already been completed.

Nayak Infrastructure of Assam, India, has been awarded the contract to lay down 24-kilometer track between Irarwa (India) to Kapileshwar of Janakpur. The company has already completed 80 percent of the work. Likewise, Raman Construction of Janakpur has bagged the contract for the 25-kilometer segment between Kapileshwor and Bijalpur of Mahottari. It has completed 60 percent of the work so far.

Ojha claimed that the railway service will resume from June next year. But Indian officials involved in the project said that it would take at least a year for track laying work after blanketing is completed. They say that the service will resume within a year if there is no obstruction from the Government of Nepal.

Meanwhile, construction work of Bardibas-Simara has also been started, according to Kamal Dev Sah, divisional engineer at the project's Bardibas site office. Similarly, the process to award contract for four packages between Bardibas and Kakarbhitta including the Koshi Bridge has also begun. Likewise, preparation for starting construction of railway line between Butwal and Mahakali River has also started, according to Sah.