The Janakpur Railway is a 30 inches (762 mm) narrow-gauge railway, which was introduced during the Rana period in 1928 by British. It is connecting Jaynagar (India) and the nepalese pilgrimage site Janakpur, in the Terai province Dhanusa, about 100 km south-east of Kathmandu. From Janakpur the line continues to Bijalpura. The operating company "Transport Corporation of Nepal - Janakpur Railway" was renamed to "Nepal Railways Corporation Ltd." in 2004, but is still a state-owned enterprise.
The big Hindu temple of Janakpur is the primary reason of the existence of the railway line. which has a length of about 51 km. It is the only railway line of Nepal and in the teeth of high ridership there is no progress in terms of improvement of the railroad network.
The best attraction of the Janakpur Railway are the trains, running on the line. In the passenger trains are used all waggons that are rollable and can carry passengers. For the people of the region the Janakpur Railway has become a vitally important economic factor.
The line is divided into 2 sections: Jaynagar - Janakpur with a length of 29 km and Janakpur - Bijalpura with a length of 22 km. After a washout of the railway embankment ant two missing bridges the operations between Janakpur and Bijalpura was stopped in 2001.
The line goes from Jaynagar northwards to the border of Nepal and then westwards to Janakpur. From Janakpur it goes northwards to Bijalpura.
The Station
Existing
- Jaynagar, Jaynagar (India)
- Khajuri, Khajuri Chanha
- Mahinathpur, Thadi Jhijha
- Shaheed Sarojnagar, Duhabi
- Baidehee, Itaharwa
- Perbaha, Deuri Parwaha
- Janakpur, Janakpur
Closed
Bijalpura, Bijalpura, closed due to a washed away bridge.
The vehicles
The first locomotive was an english steamer named after the Hindu God Vishnu and starts the service on the Janakpur Railway in 1928. It was operating till this days and had a service performance of more than a million kilometers.
Today the entire service is done by diesel locomotives of the calss ZDM5. The railway company got 4 of this locomotives from India as a gift in 1994. The ZDM5 524, ZDM5 533 and ZDM5 535 are still in operation. Two of them are always used in the service, while the third one is in maintenance. The ZDM5 536 is retired and is located in fragments at the depot of Janakpur Dham.
Train operation
In the fall of 1994 "Vishnus" also had to bend to the progress and had to join its last service. Only steam trains operated on the line until the railway company in 1994 got 4 diesel locomotives from the Indian goverment as a gift.
In normal service three trains daily in each direction, one in the morning, one at noon and one in the afternoon, are operating between Jaynagar and Janakpur. During the celebration at the temple the trains run around the clock without timetable in a shuttle, but still hopelessly overcrowded. The section Janakpur - Bijalpura was served once a day in each direction until 2001. Every morning a train ran from Bijalpura to Janakpur and back again in the afternoon.
The future
Nepal likely to have help from India, in major upgrade to current railway with broad gauge of 1.6 M and it will extent up to Bardibas. They have done all the formalities for that. In 2008, serious proposals surfaced to build a link from Lhasa in Tibet, China to Nepal.
CURRENT UPDATE (FEB, 2014): With the help of Indian Government, the work between Jainagar and Janakpur is in progress. Hope to complete soon in next year..
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