Strengthening Rail Transport Connectivity in South and South West Asia A country presentation from Nepal th 15 March 2017 Ananta Acharya 1 TIMELINE 1927: Raxaul Amlekhgunj Railway construction started and continued in operation till 1970AD 1937: Feb 16 Jaynagar-janakpur-Bijalpura (NJJR) 51 km came into operation but in 2000 washout of Bigi Bridge, the service remained limited only to Janakpur (29km) 2 Initiatives 2006: Nepal signed Trans Asian Railways (TAR)Agreement 2008: East West Electrified Railway Project Office Established. 2009: Feasibility study of East-West(945km), Kathmandu - Pokhara(187km), Anbukhaireni-Bharatpur link(72km) completed. 2010 : MoU between GOI and GON signed for cross border railway connectivity at 5 different locations. 3 Contd, 2011 : In June 15 Department of Railways Established. 2012 :Feasibility study of KTM Valley MRT completed 2013 : Detailed Project Report of Simara-Bardibas and Birgunj link completed(136km) 2014 : Construction Began for track bed, RUB and ROB in Bardibas-Lalbandi section 4 Nepal became a member of Trans Asian Railways (TAR) GoN signed on 10 November, 2006 Ratification on 6 March, 2012 ` 5 National Railway Network Plan 6 Railway length as per Feasibility Study Report (2008) Section Length (km) MechI-Mahakali 945 Kathmandu-Pokhara 187 Anbukhaireni-Tamsaria 72 Simra-Birgunj 33 Butwal –Bhairhwa-Lumbini 44 Kohalpur - Nepalgunj 14 Itahari-Biratnagar 22 Total 1317 7 Cross Border Railway Project Progress 1. Jaynagar- Janakpu-Bardibas ( 69km) . 80% of Earthwork and Culverts completed, 50% of Bridge works complete, Station Building works are underway in Jaynagar-Janakpur Section, . 65% of Earthwork and Culverts completed, 20% of Bridge works complete, Station Building works are underway in Janakpur-Bijalpura Section . Construction of Staff’s quarters are in progress 8 Cross border Railway Projects Contd. 2. Bathnaha-Jobbani-Biratnagar (5+13km) . Track bed, bridge and culvert works in progress. Station Building and staff’s quarters in progress. 9 Progress Achieved till date . DPR Preparation : . Bardibas-Butwal – 300 km, Simara-Birgunj 28 km, Butawal –Lumbini 44 km completed. Bardibas-Kakarvitta including Itahari Biratnagar Link (262 km) is underway. Butwal -Mahakali Section (412km) is at the final stage of consultant selection for DPR Preparation . Feasibility Study of Nijgadh-Hetauda-Bharatpur completed in sept.2016 and Kathmandu-Birgunj is under evaluation process 10 Progress Achieved, Contd, . Construction: (East-West Railway) . Construction of Trackbed, RUB and Bridges in the 30 km section of East West Railway (Bardibas-Lalbandi) has already been started. 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 .