Two sets of trains with one engine and four bogies is all set to reach Janakpur by today afternoon. According to the officials of the Nepal Railway Department, two trains sets parked at the Hajipur station in Bihar for months will soon arrive in Janakpur.
Director General of the Railway Department Balram Mishra informed that high officials of the railway company and the department had already left for Janakpur from Kathmandu on Thursday to receive both the sets of trains.
The Railway Department has also requested mobilization of security forces for the safety of the trains coming to Janakpur for the trial. According to a police official in Dhanusha, police personnel have been deployed at 32 places along the route.
The exact time of the trains’ entry into Nepal has not been provided to the security agencies. “We’ll only receive the trains on Friday. No formal program has been scheduled,” ‘said Mishra.
A team of Konkan Railways, India is also coming with the trains. The technical team of the Internal Coach Factory, which makes bogies, is driving the trains.
The Railway Department had purchased two sets of trains from India for around Rs 746.5 million. Nepal Railway’s Janakpur site engineer Binod Ojha said, “Both sets of trains entering Nepal from Jayanagar in India will come to Janakpur and return to Jayanagar.”
According to him, the parking spot for both the sets have yet to be decided. He said that parking lots have already been set up at Jayanagar, Inaruwa, Khajuri and Kurtha. It is not yet clear when the trains will come into operation on a regular basis but officials of Railway Department said regular service could be started within a month if all arrangements are made.
More than two years ago, construction of the 34-kilometer-long railway track from Jayanagar to Kurtha was completed with the investment of India. The trains will currently operate along the Jayanagar-Janakpur and Kurtha routes.
Works are underway to lay a railway link along 17 km from Kurtha to Bijalpura in Mahottari. During the British rule in India, a narrow-gauge railway track was constructed from Jayanagar to Bijalpura in Mahottari. The Government of India has constructed broad gauge on the same narrow-gauge route.
According to Railway Engineer Binod Ojha, these trains are called demo trains, are modern, and they run on both diesel and electricity. Each set of the trains has five bogies with one engine.
Of the four bogies, one is an AC coach and three are general bogies. One set also has a passenger seat in the engine bogie. The engine compartment is painted red and blue to match with the national flag of Nepal.
According to Engineer Ojha, all five bogies have the capacity to hold 1,300 passengers.
The Railway Department issued an advertisement this week for the recruitment of 129 employees, including technicians, for the operation of the trains.