Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Nepal counterpart Sher Bahadur Deuba met in the national capital today. They jointly flagged off the first passenger train service between the two neighboring nations today. The launch of the much-awaited 35-km long cross-border railway link will connect Jaynagar in Bihar with Kurtha in Nepal.
Both counterparts also launched the RuPay digital payment application for Nepal. They also inaugurated the Solu Corridor 132 KV Power Transmission Line and Substation in Nepal built under Govt of India's Line of Credit.
Deuba and PM Modi met at the Hyderabad House today, before which Deuba paid his tributes to father of the nation, Mahatma Gandhi at the Raj Ghat.
Deuba is on a three-day visit to India. This is his first visit to the country after becoming the Prime Minister of Nepal. PM Modi and Deuba had met in Glasgow last year on the fringes of the United Nations Climate Conference. Deuba was scheduled to visit India earlier this year for the Vibrant Gujarat Conference but the event was canceled due to the pandemic.
The Jaynagar–Kurtha cross-border railway link, according to a Kathmandu Post report, will be the first modern railway service in Nepal. The DEMU train will operate with five coaches. The Konkan Rail Corporation Limited has provided two sets of 1600 HP DEMU passenger rakes. The DEMU rakes have 2AC coaches. The rakes were handed over to Nepal in 2020.
The Jaynagar-Kurtha is a part of the 68.7 km Jaynagar-Bijalpura-Bardidas rail link. Jayanagar is 4 Km from the India-Nepal border. The Government of India has spent nearly Rs 550 crore for the section up to Bijalpura which is 17 km from Kurtha.
In the event of the initiation of the rail service, it will be compulsory for Indian citizens travelling by train between India and Nepal to carry any one of the prescribed identity cards in original with a photo identity card during the journey.
This will be the first Broad Gauge passenger rail service in Nepal. Before this, a narrow-gauge service was running between Jaynagar and Janakpur, operated by Nepal, till 2014.
The rail service between Jayanagar and Bijalpura in Nepal was introduced in 1937 during British rule. It was, however, suspended in 2001 after floods in Nepal.
Meanwhile, Deuba on Friday visited the BJP headquarters in Delhi and met party president JP Nadda and other leaders from the ruling party. External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Friday also met Deuba. "Pleased to call on PM @SherBDeuba of Nepal during his official visit to India. Confident that this visit will further strengthen our close neighborly relations," he tweeted.
Nepal shares a border of over 1,850 km with five Indian states -- Sikkim, West Bengal, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand. Land-locked Nepal relies heavily on India for the transportation of goods and services.
Nepal's access to the sea is through India, and it imports a predominant proportion of its requirements from and through India. The India-Nepal Treaty of Peace and Friendship of 1950 forms the bedrock of the special relations between the two countries.
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