August 23: With the opening of Janakpur-Jayanagar railway service, it has become easier for Indian pilgrims to visit Nepal. Since the train started running regularly from Kurtha of Nepal to Jayanagar of India, it has become easy for religious tourists as well as other passengers to travel in Nepal.

Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi had launched the cross-border train service virtually on April 2, 2022.

India had completely stopped the train service since 2014 for the upgrading the railways. With the resumption of train services from April, it has become convenient for Indian tourists to visit Janaki Temple in Janakpur as well as Pashupatinath temple in Kathmandu. Passengers also say that the railway route has made it easy for them to travel. They say that the operation of the train has helped the transport service between India and Nepal has become organized.

Indian tourist Suman Bhiwa said that he felt happy visiting Nepal. He said that travelling has become much easier than it was before. Another Indian passenger, Sarita Kumari said that the operation of Nepal-India railway service has facilitated the passengers a lot. She requested to increase it further as the railway service only runs twice a day. She added that the cost of traveling by train has also decreased over time.

Train ticket seller Santu Kumar Yadav informed that the number of passengers is on the rise of late. He said that more trains should be added to handle the crowd of passengers. According to him, about 45 percent of passengers come from India.

The government issued the Railway Ordinance for the third time on  March 22, 2022 to run the train. India handed over the railway to the Nepal Railway Company after extending the section towards Nepal to broad gauge and conducting a speed test.

All the civil works for broad gauge expansion on the 34 km Janakpur-Jayanagar railway were completed four years ago. The government had announced to run trains on the Janakpur-Jayanagar route from January 2018. However, due to various reasons, it was not possible to run the train. However, with the re-operation of the train from April last year, it has become easier for Nepali and Indian citizens to travel.