Miscellaneous
Besides airport, Nijgadh may also get rail line
The proposed Nijgadh International Airport is likely to be included in the alignment of Kathmandu-Raxaul railway line.Sanjeev Giri
The proposed Nijgadh International Airport is likely to be included in the alignment of Kathmandu-Raxaul railway line.
The government has urged India’s Konkan Railway Corporation Limited, which has been conducting the preliminary engineering and traffic survey for Kathmandu-Raxaul railway line, to also study the possibilities of incorporating Nijgadh in the cross border railway line connecting Nepal and India.
The development has surfaced with an understanding that having a rail station at Nijgadh will have better impact on both projects and make them more viable.
According to the Department of Railways (DoR), Konkan has partially completed its field work and it is in the process of preparing a report based on which further proceedings will be made.
“One of the main tasks of the current study is to find out a suitable alignment. The Indian company seems
positive on our request and it is likely that the railway line might pass through Nijgadh,” Aman Chitrakar, senior
divisional engineer and spokesperson at the DoR, told the Post.
The study being conducted by Konkan falls under technical and financial support of India.
Apart from the international airport, Nijgadh is also being connected with an express way that is expected to shorten the journey period between Nijgadh and Kathmandu to only one hour.
Likewise, the railways department has also sought Expression of Interest for preparing Detailed Project Report (DPR) of Nijgadh-Hetauda-Bharatpur railway line.
The plan of having a station in Nijgadh, if the alignment is approved, has also increased possibility of developing the city as an intersection between the East-West railway line and the cross border railway line.
“This move, we believe, will allow the project roll ahead smoothly,” Chitrakar added.
Nepal and India had agreed to develop an electrified railway line during the state visit of Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli to the southern neighbour after assuming office for the second time.
As per the understanding between the two sides to carry out preparatory survey work within a year, officials
from Konkan had visited Nepal on the second week of June and zeroed in on Chobhar as the suitable location to set up a railway station in Kathmandu.
Birgunj, a city in the country’s southern plains already has a railway line up to Raxaul, India. The line, however, is used only for shipping cargo from Kolkata to the dry port in Sirsiya.