Are there rail connections to Nepal from India?

July 19, 2019, 12:24 PM

Jaynagar is a point close to the India-Nepal border in Bihar. This town has MG service on ER from various points, including Darbhanga which is on the BG network. From Jaynagar, there is a Nepal Govt. Railway train service (2’6″ NG) up to Janakpur (Janakpurdham) and Bizalpura (Bijalpura), begun in 1937. The total track length of this section is about 53km. (Was there also service in the past to Deodha and Lewri??). In 1994, the service was augmented by the transfer of 6 8-coach NG rakes and 5 ZDM-5 diesel locomotives from SER’s Nagpur division, as the older steam locos used for the line were getting decommissioned. In the late 1990s two more ZDM-5 locomotives were transferred from India. In Nepal, close to Jaynagar, is the erstwhile Khajuri steam shed, where one may still see many derelict steam locos. [6/01] Services still run, per the IR NER timetable. [9/07] Update: Some of the ZDM-5’s are still active and trains still run on this line. One ZDM-5 is said to have been scrapped in the late 1990s. The trains are run by the Nepal Railways Corporation, Ltd., the successor of the Transport Corporation of Nepal’s Janakpur Railway.

There used to be a Raxaul – Birganj – Amlekhganj MG line (Nepal Government Railway), about 39km long, used for some freight movement. It was built by Martin’s of Calcutta in 1924-7, and remained in service until the mid-1960s. Amlekhganj is about several miles inside Nepal. The Birganj-Amlekhganj section was shut down in Dec. 1965. Part of the Raxaul – Birganj spur on the Indian side has been converted to broad gauge. After the Raxaul connection on the Indian side was converted to BG, it was no longer possible for a while to run trains through into Nepal on this line. Through connectivity has recently [7/04] been restored — the entire stretch from Raxaul to Birgunj has been converted to BG, and goods traffic began moving between Calcutta and Nepal using this link in July 2004.

[2008] The Jaynagar – Bijalpura section is under consideration for conversion to broad gauge, as well as extension to Baridibas.

There is now [5/99] a proposal to convert the 6km stretch from Raxaul in Bihar to Birganj in Nepal to broad gauge to facilitate easier movement of goods from the Calcutta Port to Nepal. [4/03] Although there has been talk of BG conversion for the spur within Nepal for years now, no progress seems to have been made. Now [4/03] there is renewed discussion of not only converting the disused line to Amlekhganj to BG, but extending the line to Kathmandu. [11/03] Update: A link, from Sirsiya (a dry dock facility) in Nepal to Raxaul, about 5.3km in length, was proposed for construction by March 2004; nothing came of this. [8/07] The Pipavav Rail Corporation has now submitted a proposal for constructing the entire 174km route from Birgunj to Kathmandu. In 2008, three other proposals for rail connectivity to Nepal were considered and had preliminary engineering surveys done: New Jalpaiguri (India) to Kakrabitta (Nepal) via Panitanki (46.3km); Nepalganj Road (India) to Nepalganj (Nepal) (12.1km); and Nautanwa (India) to Bhairahawa (Nepal) (15.3km). An agreement signed [1/10] between the two countries also proposes to gauge-convert and improve the Jaynagar-Birdibas line and to build a new line from Baijalpura to Birdibas.

In 2008, the railway link within India to Jogbani (northern Bihar) was upgraded to allow for container traffic (from Kolkata port) to be unloaded and transshipped by road to Biratnagar in Nepal. This eased the movement of cargo which earlier had to be transshipped to road at Katihar, over 100km away. A plan to extend the railway line from Jogbani directly to Biratnagar is [1/09] under consideration. A more sophisticated container facility is also coming up at Bathnaha, 7km from Jogbani.

Lastly, there are other disused 2’6″ lines: Bhimnagar (in Nepal) to Kosi dam (on the border), Bhimnagar to Forbesganj (in India, south of Jogbani) which connected to the IR MG network (includes a section Birpur-Dharan?). These are connected to the Kosi Irrigation Project (Kosi Barrage Railway) which was a pre-war project revived in 1952. Although expected to finish in 1962 it took considerably longer. About 20 NG steam locomotives were used on the railway. Some were still in use in 1982, although by 1987 all had stopped working.

To complete the record, other lines in Nepal include the following: Bhimnagar – Chhakraghatti, Chhakraghatti – Chhatra – Kosi River wharf, Chhakraghatti – Ghopa (Dharan) (this section was closed by 1982), and an aerial cableway from Ghopa to a stone quarry.

Source – IFRCA.org

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