By Dhirendra Prasad Sah
Janakpurdham, Feb. 10: The dry run of the train of Nepal Railway Company has been scheduled for February 13. The train will begin the testing process from Kurtha of Dhanusha district to Jaynagar in India.
The dry run is a testing process where the effects of a possible failure are intentionally mitigated.

From February 13, the train will conduct the tests by running once a day from Kurtha to Jaynagar so that any failures can be repaired and mitigated before operating for public transportation.
“The train will carry neither passengers nor goods during the dry run. We will test the engine, buggy, train tracks, lights and signs, among others. If we find any fault, it will be repaired,” said Niranjan Jha, general manager of Nepal Railway Company.

Jha also informed that the encroachments around the train tracks have been removed while repairing level-crossing gates (LC gates), stations, halt centres and other infrastructures are in the final phase.
The 34.9 kilometres distance between Kurtha and Jaynagar has 22 formal LC gates and 17 informal LC gates.

“We have challenges to manage the informal LC gates as we can’t stop vehicles officially there. If we can't stop the vehicles in those gates while the train is coming, it could lead to accidents,” said Jha.
Only in Janakpurdham area, there are three formal LC gates within 50 metres alongside two informal gates.

“We are coordinating with local level representatives to tackle the challenges,” said Jha.
There are five stations and three halt centres along Kurtha-Jaynagar.

Meanwhile, the dry run of the train has been welcomed by the locals of Janakpurdham, Aurahi and Janaknandini areas of Dhanusha with great applaud as their dream of using train for transport is coming true after many years.

“We had lost the hope of seeing trains operating here. But now we are happy as the dream is getting truer day by day,” said Dinesh Kumar Mandal, a local of Aurahi.
The government had procured two sets of trains under Rs. 846.5 million from Indian Railway Corporation on September 18, 2020. The trains were brought with huge celebrations only to park them at Inaruwa of Janaknandini covering with tarpaulin.

“The inauguration of the railway service is being planned to schedule after two weeks of the dry run jointly by Nepali Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi,” said Jha.
According to Jha, the inauguration date will be fixed within a couple of days.

“We plan to operate the railway service for public from the third week of February. We don’t have any obstruction to operate it now. We only require an official inauguration. After that, the train will provide regular service,” said Jha.
As per the officials, the train will operate by coming and returning once a day for 15 days in the first phase.
“The preliminary operations will also reveal the situation and number of passengers after which we will operate it two to three times a day as per the requirement,” said Jha.
The fare for traveling in general seats from Jaynagar to Kurtha is Rs. 70 per passenger while travelling in AC buggy seats has been set at Rs. 300.