Janakpur rail completes one year of operation

By Dhirendra Prasad Sah,Janakpur, Apr. 4: The Janakpur-Jayanagar rail service has completed one year of operation. The35-kilometre railway extending from Kurtha, Nepal to Jayanagar, India, was virtually inaugurated by the then Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba and his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi from Hyderabad House, New Delhi, India on April 2, 2022. 

It began full commercial operation from the next day and has been making two round trips between its two destinations every day.

The rail service came into operation last year after remaining closed for more than a decade. “We were greatly anxious at the start,” Niranjan Kumar Jha, general manager of Nepal Railway Company Limited (NRCL), recounted his initial fears. “We were worried about whether we would get passengers or be able to make a profit.”

“Thankfully, these worries proved futile and now, the number of passengers is increasing daily.”

He expressed happiness at being able to operate the train service successfully for a year and shared that the Railway Company’s focus now was on making themselves self-sufficient.

 The Company needs to bring in Indian mechanics to carry out repair and maintenance and needs to take its trains to India to refuel. It pays over Rs. 50 million every year to get its trains washed in India. Similarly, it pays 28 per cent tax, including 13 per cent VAT and 15 per cent TDS, when refuelling in India. 

To change this, Jha informed that the Company had begun work on constructing centres for washing and fuel and developing an organisational structure. “This will help us save Rs. 70 million every year,” he said.

Furthermore, NRCL employs 26 Indian citizens. “We are forced to hire Indian drivers to run the trains which has been costing us Rs. 1.8 million every month in salaries,” Jha added. “That is why we have opened vacancies for several permanent positions, including train drivers. Recruited employees will be trained and deployed in the field.”

He also stated that the Company planned to bring a Kurtha-Jayanagar cargo rail into operation.

Meanwhile, according to the Company, it earned around Rs. 80 million from ticket sales last year while it spent Rs. 160 million. However, Jha claimed that this was not a loss and that Rs. 160 million was the amount the government agreed to pay the Indian Railways on an annual basis. 

“That is why we have planned for the cargo service. We cannot make a profit only by carrying passengers,” NRCL Engineer Ravindra Sah said.

General Secretary of Janakpurdham Chamber of Commerce and Industry Manoj Sah said that train service had boosted the local economy by increasing the movements of religious tourists. Treasurer Parameshwor Sah demanded that NRCL bring the cargo train into service soon to facilitate import and export.

Nepal had purchased two trains of five bogeys each from India. However, it remained idle for three years due to a lack of laws and manpower.