DPR of Kathmandu-Raxaul railway to be ready in a month

KATHMANDU: India has informed Nepal that the detailed project report (DPR) of the proposed Kathmandu-Raxaul railway will be prepared within a month.

According to Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Physical Infrastructure and Transport Narayankaji Shrestha, Nepal is expected to receive the report within a month after the study is completed.

Shrestha said at a press conference held at the ministry that India has already been informed about this. A bilateral Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) was signed between Nepal and India on October 8, 2021, for this study.

According to the MoU, the DPR of the railway project has been prepared by India at its own expense through an Indian government company.

According to the agreement, India sent a team to work in Nepal. The goal was to complete this work within 18 months.

India has already given the preliminary engineering and traffic survey report of this railway project to Nepal. According to the preliminary report prepared by Konkan Railway Corporation Limited (KRCL), the length of the proposed Raxaul-Kathmandu railway was seen to be 136 km.

It is proposed to build this railway through Nijgarh to Khokna. About a 40 km section of the proposed railway will have a tunnel and it was seen that about 35 bridges, small and big, should also be built.

India has studied to make this railway using broad gauge technology. The government has taken a policy to build the railway lines across the country in standard gauge.

An agreement has been reached with China to prepare the DPR of the Kerung-Kathmandu railway based on standard gauge. There is a government plan to build the east-west railway in Nepal in the standard gauge.

Although experts have suggested that the Kathmandu-Raxaul railway line should also be built in standard gauge, India took the stand that the Raxaul-Kathmandu railway line should be built as per the broad gauge technology, arguing that it does not have the standard gauge technology and technical expertise.

Although Nepal has requested India to carry out the DPR based on standard gauge, since India is not ready, they are trying to build railways using traditional technology.

After receiving the DPR, the discussions on the modality of construction of the project will proceed. Nepal has been requesting India to build the project under grant assistance.

According to Minister Shrestha, preparations have been made to extend the Janakpur-Jayanagar train service that already operates up to Kurta to Bijalpura. He said that this train service will be extended to Bardibas in the future.