By Dharbendra Jha
Janakpurdham, Sept. 19: The government-procured two trains arrived in Janakpurdham, capital of State 2, on Friday.
The two DEMU (Diesel Electric Multiple Unit) trains, with engines at
both sides, have been taken to Nepal Railway Station at Jayanagar in India on the same day.
The trains have 10 bogies.
The government had bought the two locomotives from Konkan Railway Corporation Limited, an Indian government-owned rail enterprise in Chennai.
The trains will be operated from Kurtha of Janakpurdham to Jayanagar of India. Nepal Railway Company has started testing the trains’ operation on
the tracks whose construction completed last year.
Director General of the company Guru Bhattarai said that the testing started from Friday as per the agreement between the governments of Nepal and India in the presence of Chief District Officer of Dhanusha Prem Prasad Bhattarai, senior security officers and Indian technicians. Bhattarai had reached Janakpurdham with a team of Nepali technicians.
The trains will be parked at the Nepal Railway Station in Jayanagr. Since the border is unlikely to open soon due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the trains service would not start immediately so the trains would be parked there for the maintenance and safety, said Senior Divisional Engineer Devendra Sah.
He said that the regular train service would be launched within two months after the coronavirus pandemic comes under control. "The department has initiated the documentation and other necessary processes needed for the service operation," he maintained.
The Indian technicians and Nepal Railway authorities were welcomed at various locations. Thousands of people had come to see the new trains despite the coronavirus fear.
According to an earlier announcement, the trains would have come to Nepal some 14 months before.