Kathmandu, September 18
The government is planning to assign the state-owned Nepal Railway Company to operate and manage the newly upgrade Janakpur-Jayanagar railway line.
government is planning plans to recruit more employees to work for the company, government sources say. For that, the department has already requested the Public Service Commission to add more staff.
Department of Railway Director General Balaram Mishra confirmed that Nepal Railway Company will operate the railway the same way it did before. Nepal Railway Company was founded in 1972, but it hasn’t been in operation since 2014.
The company will use an engine currently being assembled in India by Konkan Railway. The government signed an agreement with Konkan Railway to procure the engine for around Rs 846 million in May. The Indian company has said it will deliver the engine by December.
As the date of the handover nears, the department is starting its preparations to operate the service. Nepal Railway Company is preparing to hire around 200 employees, including railway engineers, mechanical engineers, train operators, station managers, and ticket officers to run the railway. However, as of now, the company only has provisions to hire 20 employees.
Even though the government has said it will operate the railway on its own, it will still need technical assistance from India because the government doesn’t have the knowhow to operate a railway. “Our staff have no clue how to operate the broad-gauge railway which is why we’ve held talks with India and they’ve said they’ll help train our staff,” said Mishra.
Prior to this, Nepal had a train which operated on coal. However, now the train will be operated on diesel and electricity.
