The section Jayanagar-Kurtha, 34.90 Km is a part of Jaynagar-Bijalpura-Bardibas rail (68.72 KM) project which has entirely been funded by Government of India. As first phase of this project, the rail line from Jayanagar in Madhubani district, Bihar has been connected to Kurtha in Nepal and will be extended up to Bijalpura by March 2021. Government of India has spent nearly Rs 550 Crores for the section up to Bijalpura which is further 17 km from Kurtha. After Bijalpura, new line will be constructed till Bardibas after Government of Nepal hands over land for the project.
Jayanagar is 4 Km from the India-Nepal border. This route has Janakpur, the famous pilgrim centre in Nepal which is 29 Kms from Jayanager. This project is being undertaken by IRCON and all rail engineering and infrastructure works are complete. To operate rail service on this route, 2 sets of 1600 HP DEMU passenger rakes have been supplied by Konkan Rail Corporation Limited (KRCL). These 2 DEMU rakes have 2 AC coaches each apart from non-AC coaches. These 2 rakes were handed over to Nepal on 18th September, 2020.
This will be the first Broad Gauge passenger rail service in Nepal. Prior to this till 2014 a narrow gauge service was running between Jayanagar and Janakpur operated by Nepal. Indian Railways is extending full cooperation to Nepal in running the BG service by sharing the know-how and operations and maintenance processes with Nepal Railway Company as well as imparting training to officials from Nepal. A draft Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for starting passenger train operations in the section has been prepared and shared with Nepal Railways by Government of India.
KRCL is being considered by Nepal Railway Company to run the operations and Maintenance (O&M) of this line till such time Nepal Railway Company is able to do this itself. Both Nepal and India are working together to start rail service between Jayanagar and Kurtha and it is hoped that after finishing the necessary technical and operational requirements, this service will be commenced soon.