KATHMANDU: The Nepal Railway Company has directed its officials to prepare the inaugural ceremony of Jayanagar-Kurtha railway services with great pomp.
The 35-km-long train service from Jayanagar of Bihar, India to Kurtha of Janakpur, Nepal, has been scheduled to be jointly inaugurated by the Prime Ministers of Nepal and India virtually on April 2.
Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba will be in India on April 1 for a three-day official visit. He will be inaugurating the railway service from Delhi, India, alongside his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi.
“The railway service will begin from April 2. Our employees have been directed to prepare for the inauguration as it should be marked with a splendid ceremony,” said Niranjan Jha, general manager of Nepal Railway Company.
Speaking to The Rising Nepal, Rabindra Sah, an engineer associated with the Nepal Railway Company, said, “Not only will Nepalis be seeing the train operating, they will also be availing its services after the inauguration.”
Sah said that they had completed all the major eight necessities required for operating a train.
The necessities include a law, manpower, ticket system, level crossing gates, telephones in each gate, symbolic lights and proper analysis of the situation of train and railway track. Sah added that the inauguration will be broadcast live.
The railway service was constructed under Rs. 8.770 billion support by the Indian government.
“We had already made preparations to operate the railway service more than a month ago but we didn’t have a proper law. Now, we have a law and preparation is complete to begin its operation for public,” said Jha.
President Bidhya Devi Bhandari, on March 22, had promulgated the railway ordinance on recommendation of the cabinet.