The government of India handed over the Jaynagar-Kurtha, a 34.9km-long cross-border rail link, which connects Jaynagar, Bihar to Kurtha, Nepal, to the government of Nepal.
- IRCON International Limited (on behalf of the Government of India), the executing agency of the project handed over the assets of the Jaynagar-Kurtha section to the Nepal Railway Company Limited (on behalf of the Government of Nepal).
- This will be the first broad gauge cross border rail link between India and Nepal.
Aim:
To enhance the trade and commerce activities along with people to people linkage between India and Nepal.
Key People:
Vinay Mohan Kwatra, Ambassador of India to Nepal and Renu Kumari Yadav, Minister for Physical Infrastructure and Transport, govt of Nepal were present during the event.
About Jaynagar-Kurtha:
i.The conversion of the 34.9 km narrow gauge section from Jaynagar to Kurtha into broad gauge has been completed under the grant assistance of the Indian government.
ii.8 stations and halts in the Jaynagar-Kurtha section includes the historically important city of Janakpur.
Cross border rail link:
i.Jaynagar-Kurtha is a part of the 68.7 km Jaynagar-Bijalpura-Bardibas rail link built with the financial assistance of NPR 8.77 billion (~Rs 550 crore) from the government of India.
ii.Jogbani- Biratnagar, an 18.6 km long rail link is also being constructed under India’s financial assistance.
Recent Related News:
India & Nepal signed a Letter of Exchange (LoE) to revise the 2004 India-Nepal Rail Services Agreement (RSA). The revised agreement will facilitate the import and export of goods through the Indian railway freight services and will come into force from 9th July, 2021.
About Nepal:
President– Bidhya Devi Bhandari
Prime Minister– Sher Bahadur Deuba
Capital– Kathmandu
Currency– Nepalese rupee(NPR)
