Kathmandu, June 15: The operation
of train service in Janakpur-Jayanagar section won't happen by the end of this
month as the Department of Railway (DoR) had claimed in March this year.
After receiving Rs. 350 million in
addition to the previously provided Rs. 500 million and the government's green
signal to buy two trains from India in a government-to-government contract, the
DoR had planned to bring in two train sets by the end of June and start rail
service in the railway track that has been completed many months ago.
Earlier, the department had said
that the locomotives would come to Nepal by mid-May but later postponed the deadline
citing delay in getting the Cabinet's approval, and the process to communicate
with the Indian train building company, invite the proposal and evaluate it.
Earlier, the government had successfully
conducted the final test operation of the 35-km long Janakpur-Jayanagar railway
track. Machines were brought from India for the test since the government had
no locomotives to start the service.
The government had decided to buy
trains after its plan to procure trains from India in a wet lease could not be
materialised.
The DoR said that the delay in
signing the contract agreement with the Indian-government owned Konkan Railway
Corporation Limited and recent general elections in India pushed the deadlines
further.
"We have signed the contract
agreement with the Indian company but it has not yet asked for the advanced
payment to build trains. But, the department is hopeful that it the process
will be completed in a week," said Aman Chitrakar, Senior Divisional
Engineer and Spokesperson at the DoR.
The long period of general
elections in India delayed the process, he said.
According to him, the first set of
train will come to Nepal within three months. It means the train will arrive
approximately after a year from the initial announcement of operation.
The DoR is buying DEMU (Diesel
Electric Multiple Unit) trains at the cost of Rs. 846.59 million. These
machines with 5 car sets have double engines at both sides.
The department also plans to revive
the Railway Company that used to operate the Janakpur-Jayanagar train service
to use it as a human resource development centre.
However, there is no alternative to
bring technical manpower from India along with the trains.
Published in The Rising Nepal daily on 16 June 2019.
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