The document provides details about the development of railway transportation in Nepal. It discusses Nepal's first railway line that was established in 1927 and linked two cities. Future plans for expanding railway networks across Nepal and between Nepal and India are outlined, including various ongoing projects like the East-West Electric Railway and Kathmandu Metrorail Project. The railway is positioned as an important mode of transportation that can help develop Nepal's economy and connectivity both internally and with neighboring countries.

1. RAILWAY DEVLOPMENT IN NEPAL

2. AIM
TO ACCQUIANT ABOUT DEVELOPMENT OF RAILWAY IN NEPAL

3. NEPALAT GLANCE
• Population: 26,494,504
• Land area: 15 million hectors
• Mountains: 75 percent
• Rural area: Almost 78 percent
• Nepal is a landlocked country.
• Nepal’s current GDP per capita is about $1,000.
• It is the second largest country in the world to have more water resource.
• Its water resources are so big that it helps to provide immense potential
for hydroelectric development.

4. NEPAL AT A GLANCE

5. Nepal at a Glance
• Nepal is a small landlocked country covering an area of 1,47181 sq. km
• It is bordered by India in the east, west, and south and also China in the north which are
the countries having largest economies in the world.
• Railways and roadways are the two means of transport over the land. Roads can be built
in the hilly areas also whereas railway lines cannot be laid easily.
• Construction of railways is dependent on physical factors like topography and climate
besides other factors.
• In mountainous country like Nepal, the cost of providing this service is very difficult and
a costly proposition because tunnels and bridges are required to be constructed
• The railways have advantage over the roadways that they can carry a large number of
passengers and large and heavy loads to long distances
• need to develop sustainable mass transit systems to reduce fuel dependence for which
Railway is one of the projects is also been planned.

6. • Nepal is one among the, 48 least-developed countries and 44
landlocked countries in the world.
• To transform the status of ‘landlocked’ to ‘land-linked’
• requires ‘connectivity-driven strategy’ with accessible, advance and
affordable transport connectivity.
• most economic and fastest means of transportation for the
movement of freight and passenger traffic.
• Nepal’s infrastructure focus should be implementation of internal
and cross-border railways connectivity plans and policies

7. Transportation in Nepal
Four different modes of transportation are available
• Surface transportation: Roadways, Railways
• Air transportation: Domestic, International
• Water transportation: Ferries, Boats
• Cable transportation: Rope-ways, Cable Car

8. History of Railway
• efforts were made to replace animal power with
mechanical power
• In 1769, Nicholes Carnot, a Frenchman, carried out
the pioneering work of developing steam energy.
• This work had very limited success and it was only in
the year 1804 that Richard Trevithick designed and
constructed a steam locomotive
• in 1814 produced the first steam locomotive used for
traction in railways.
• The first public railway in the world was opened to
traffic on 27 September 1825 between Stockton and
Darlington in the UK.

9. Railway History in Nepal
• The Nepal Government Railway (NGR) was Nepal's first railway. Established in 1927 and closed in 1965
• it linked Amlekhganj with Raxaul across the border
• The 2 ft 6 in(762 mm) narrow gauge railway was 47 km long ("Nepal Government Railway", 2010).
• In 1998, two ZDM-5 diesel locomotives were donated by Indian Railway to Nepal Railways. In 2004,
the Kolkata – Raxaul – Sirsiya broad gauge line started operations as an Inland Port.
• Also, The Jayanagar-Janakpur Line was built as 2 ft 6 in narrow gauge railway which was also
introduced during the Rana period. The Jayanagar- Janakpur-Bijalpura line is under the gauge
conversion to 1,676 mm with an extension to Bardibas in the current days.
• By the Indian railways, the length of 1676 Km with 1,000 mm meter guage railway track from Raxaul
was converted to 1,676 mm for the connection to SirsiyaBirgunj.
• In the year 2005, the railway fully came in operation. Until 2014, the Nepal Railway lines used 1,676
mm (5 ft 6 in) gauge lines until 2014

10. First Railway in Nepal
• The first railway in Nepal was the Nepal Government Railway. It was established in
the railway linked Amlekhganj with Raxaul across the border in India in the south.
• The railway was 47 km long with 2 ft 6 in narrow gauge. In 1923, A short narrow
gauge railway was built by J. V. Collier of Indian Forest Service for the transportation
of Nepalese timber to India.
• Rana Prime minister assigned Collier to manage the forest department in Nepal. To
construct the light railway from the north border to Amlekhgani,
• In March 1926, the construction of railway began in 16th February 1927; the Nepal
Government Railway was commenced.
• The narrow gauge railway used a track gauge of 2 ft 6. The railway was regulated by
seven steam locomotives, 82 wagons, and 12 coaches. The Amlekhganj-Raxaul
railway was the only route indirectly connecting the capital Kathmandu with India
until the highway was built, later Trivubhuwan Highway

11. Future Plans
• passenger and freight transport demand, felt the necessity of
development of railway as an alternative land transport mode for
faster and cheaper movement of freight and passenger traffic.
• Nepal government has given priority for nation-wide electric
railway network.
• Feasibility study for Mechi-Mahakali and Kathmandu Pokhara
routes have already been completed (total 1318 Km
• The plan to connect to India from 6 different locations of Nepal
through Electric Railway of approx. 113 km will significantly
improve trade between two countries as well as in the South
Asian Region

12. Need for Railway
• has given rise to the increasing income, resulting the requirement of
more speedy and reliable transport system.
• Inadequate transport infrastructure has further widened the regional
disparity.
• National level transport is dominated by road network development,
however, in remote districts air transport is only one option for travel
other than walking

13. • the total road network of the country is 80,078 km. Out of 75
districts, only 67 district head quarter’s roads are linked with all-
weather roads.
• The country has 1 international airport and 56 domestic airports.
But, airway hasn’t developed completely due to difficult locations of
destiny.
• Over the next five years, the government hopes to mobilize US$ 8.2
billion for road infrastructure, rail connectivity, and transport sector
management.

14. NEED FOR RAILWAY IN NEPAL
• During the span of 13 years the number of registered vehicles has
increased by 5.2 times.
• they consume a relatively large quantity of petroleum products
emitting more and more GHG emissions and pollutants causing air
pollution.

15. Objective of railway sector in Nepal
• To develop, expand and manage the railway network effectively and
efficiently.
• To strengthen and strengthen social, economic and administrative
relations neighboring areas of the neighboring country along with
the potential of North and South.
• Providing railway service to the public in a safe, reliable, reliable and
minimum freight rate.
• Effective development of other infrastructure development and good
service services
• To develop and expand the railway operations to strengthen the
customs and to strengthen the economic growth.
• To encourage, promote, engage in the participation of organizations
and organizations to manage, expand, operate and manage rail
network.
• Incoming international markets / trade and promotion of
international markets / business

16. Advantages of Railway
• Most dependable mode of transport as it is the least affected by weather
conditions
• better organized than any, has fixed routes and schedules And more certain
• best choice for long distance traffic.
• Railway transport is economical, quicker and best suited for carrying heavy and
bulky goods over long distances.
• It is a cheaper mode of transport as compared to other modes
• Railway is the safest form of transport. The carrying capacity of the railways is
extremely large. Moreover, its capacity is elastic which can easily be increased by
adding more wagons.
• It is the largest public undertaking in the country.
• Railways provide administrative facilities to the Government. The defence forces
and the public servants drive their mobility primarily from the railways.

17. Disadvantages of Railway
• Although railway transport has many advantages, it suffers from certain serious
limitations which are given below.
• The railway requires is large investment, cost of construction, maintenance and
overhead expenses are very high
• inflexibility. Its routes and timings cannot be adjusted to individual requirements.
• Rail transport cannot provide door to door service as it is tied to a particular
track.
• controlled and managed by the government, lack of competition may breed
inefficiency and high costs.
• Railway transport is unsuitable and uneconomical for short distance and small
traffic of goods.
• It involves much time and labor in booking and taking delivery of goods through
railways as compared to motor transport.
• large rural areas have no railway service even today. This causes much
inconvenience to the people living in rural areas.
• must have full load for its ideal and economic operation. If underutilization of its
capacity is a great financial problem and loss to the economy

18. CURRENT RAILWAY STATUS
• The country has total railway line of 59 km.
• The Nepal Railway Company (NRC) owns 53 km.
• 32 km from Jaynagar, India to Janakpur,Nepal and 21 km from
Janakpur, Nepal to Bijalpur, India.
• The Indian Railway manages the 6 km railway line from Birgunj to
Raxaul.

19. NEPAL'S EFFORT IN RAILWAY DEVELOPMENT

20. NEPAL'S EFFORT IN RAILWAY DEVELOPMENT
• Nepal is a land-locked country and the nearest outlet to the sea is Kolkata, India, which is more than a thousand km away.
• present urban transport system is not appropriable inefficient and environmentally unfriendly.
• desperately needs to develop sustainable mass transit systems to address the needs for increased mobility and to reduce
fuel dependence for which Railway is one of the projects is also been planned.
• In 1927, Nepal had about 53km long railway transport. There were two lines, one connected Janakpur with Jainagar in
India and the other stretched between Amlekhgunj and Raxaul in India. Instead of expansion of the railway in the country,
Nepal’s rail network has shrunk ever since. “
• After remaining non-functional for the last four years the Janakpur-Jayanagar Railway line connecting Nepal and India is
expected to become functional.
• Nepal government’s 20-year railways development plan aims to build 4,000 kilometers of rail services that includes linking
tracks from the northern Tibetan plateau in China to the flood plains of the Ganga in India
• Nepal has planned to make Kathmandu metro rail, Lumbini mono rail and East-West electrified railway already been
started.
• cross border railway with India and China, bilateral talks between India and China

21. SOME OF ON GOING PROJECTS

22. Railway connectivity within the country
• The DPR for Mechi- Mahakali Electric Railway (945 km)is regarded as the Nepal’s
backbone for transportation,
• while feasibility studies of Bardibas- Simara, Simara – Tamsariya and Tamsariya –
Butwal and Nijgadh – Hetauda – Bharatpur (alternative route to Simara –
Tamsariya) has been completed.
• The government of Nepal had also allocated the budget in FY2015/16, to
conduct the DPR for Rasuwagadhi-Kathmandu-Pokhara-Lumbini Railway link.
• TheyMemorandum of Understanding (MOU) signed between Kathmandu
Metropolitan City and CimexINCPvt Ltd to conduct the feasibility study of ‘sky rail
system’ in Kathmandu
• and call for EOI from Nepal government to perform feasibility study of
Kathmandu - Birgunj Electrified Railway Line, are the fresh development in
domestic railways connectivity

23. East-West Electric railway (Mechi-
Mahakali Electric railway (MMER))

24. • Priority of Project – National Priority
• Location – 21 Terai districts
• Feasibility Study completed in 2010
• Project Implementation Modality not yet decided
• DPR cost under GoN Budget
• Construction and Land Acquisition
• expenditure till date under GoN Budget
• Project Specific
• DPR completed in nine packages (1056km including links)
• Construction started in Bardibas-Nijgadh section (70km)
East-West Electric railway (Mechi-Mahakali Electric
railway (MMER))

25. East-West Electric railway (Mechi-Mahakali Electric railway (MMER))
• The Department of Railways (DoRW) has divided the mega project into multiple sections and is
preparing the DPR.
• Already completed the DPR
108-km Bardibas-Simara section
127-km Simara-Tansariya section
64-km Tansariya-Butwal section.
• DPR being prepared
137-km Bardibas-Inaruwa section,
103-km Inaruwa-Kakadvitta,
115-km Butwal-Lamahi section,
102-km Kohalpur-Lamahi section,
95-km Kohalpur-Sukhad ,
94-km Sukhad-Gaddachauki

26. • planned to complete the 945-kilometre mega project five years with
total investment of Rs 69.52 billion.
• 70 per cent of track opening of the 30-km Bardibas-Lalbandi segment
of the Bardibas-Simara section in fiscal year 2016-17.

27. Salient Features of East-West Railway
• Total Length 943km (including links Kohalpur-Nepalgunj,Butwal-Bhiraha-
Lumbini, Itahari-Biratnagar 1056km)
• Design Speed 200km/hr
• Standard Gauge 1435mm
• Passes through major towns along East West Highway like
• Birtamod, Damak, Itahari,Inaruwa,Lahan, Rajbiraj, Bardibas, Chapur,
Hetauda, Narayanghat, Butwal, Lamahi, Kohalpur, Attariya, Mahendranagar
etc
• Electric Traction
• Single Track

29. Kathmandu Metrorail Project

30. • Priority of Project – level not decided yet
• Location – Two districts Kathmandu and Lalitpur
• Feasibility Study completed
• Project Implementation Modality not decided yet
• Feasibility Study Cost under GoN Budget
Kathmandu Metrorail Project

31. Project Specific
• Construction of Electrified Kathmandu
Metro Railway
• Total Length 77.28km
• Five Lines
Line 1 Satdobato-Ratna park-Narayangopalchowk 12.10km
Line 2 Kirtipur-Kalimati-NewBaneshwor Airport 11.15km
Line 3 Koteshwor-Chabahil-Swayambhu-Koteshwor 28.53km
Line 4 Swoyambhu-Dillibazar-Boudha 11.70km
Line 5 Dhobighat-Singhadurbar-Naksal-Gonggabu 13.8km
• Line 1,2 & 3 Elevated
• Line 4 & 5 Underground
• Design Speed 60km/hr

32. Kathmandu Metrorail project

33. Kathmandu Metrorail project
• In 2012, Korean consulting firms had jointly submitted an inception report on the feasibility of
building a metro railway project in the Valley to the Department of Railways.
• The report had proposed that five metro lines be built in the Valley-four inside Ring Road and
• one around the Ring Road. The report had put the cost of building the 77km project at around Rs 330
billion. firms The government has
• decided to conduct a study to build a metro-rail in the Kathmandu
• prepared by Korean and Nepali Valley. On November 2017, meeting chaired
• by PM Sher Bahadur Deuba and attended by chairman of the Investment Board Maha Prasad Adhikari
decided to
• conduct a study and prepare the detailed project report (DPR) for developing the metro rail in
Kathmandu
• ("Metro rail in Kathmandu", 2017). The proposed 66.1-km network comprises 31 stations in
• total — including transfer and ordinary stations. The main terminal of the metro will be located
• at Ratnapark. There will be five lines inside the ringroad("Kathmandu Valley Metro
• Inception Report";, 2012). The proposal map of Kathmandu Metrorail project is shown in Appendix

34. Justification of Project Selection forimplementation
• Best way to fulfill traffic demands of current Kathmandu valley population
of around 4 million
• Best alternative to provide traffic congestion free public transportation
• Encourage people to use public transportation thereby reducing the
number of personalized vehicles mainly cars and two wheelers Reduce air
pollution as it is an electrified railway line and also reduces import of fuel
to some extent
• Provide safe , reliable, economic and environmental friendly mode of mass
transportation
• Saves travel time which can be utilized in other economic activities
• Improves quality of life in capital city thus enhances pride of country and
better image of the country for the tourists

35. Kathmandu - Raxaul Railway project
• Priority of Project – level not decided yet
• Location – Four districts Parsa, Bara, Makwanpur and Kathmandu
Project Implementation Modality
• Survey under Government of India Support

36. Project Specific
• Construction of Electrified Raxual-Kathmandu
• Railway Line starting from Raxaul in India and ending at Chovar at
Kathmandu
• Total Length 135 km
• Railway line consist of many tunnels and bridges
• Design Speed 120km/hr
• Maximum Gradient 1 in 50
• Broad Gauge 1676mm
• Complex and challenging project in terms of its alignment terrain,
geological complexity, seismic hazard , operational issues

37. • Route : Raxaul – Jitpur – Nijgadh – Shikharpur– Sisneri – Sathikhel –
Kathmandu
• Route Length : 135.886 kms
• Important Bridges : 41 nos.
• Tunnels : 39 nos. (Length- 41870 m)
• Curves : 40 nos. (Length- 42271 m)
• Grade Separators : 85 nos.
• Stations : 13 nos.
• R & R : 85 nos.
• Land Requirement : 892 Ha
• Cost : INR 16550.446 crore
• (Appx NPR 264 Billion) (Appx USD 2.64 Billion)
Kathmandu - Raxaul railway project at Glance

38. Kathmandu - Raxaul railway project at Glance

39. Justification of Project Selection for Implementation
• expanding connectivity to enhance people-to-people linkages and
promote economic growth and development
• Opens direct link from capital city to India through Railway network
• Direct access to the huge population in South Asia through rail line,
enormous potential for increase in tourism and other businesses
• Will link to East West Railway as well as the Second Internatioanl
Airport to be constructed in Nijgadh
• Beneficial to the whole country
• Can be a milestone for replacement of fuel based transportation and
saving huge amount of money spent on import of fuels

40. Kathmandu - Kerung railway (Trans-Himalaya
railway) project

41. Kathmandu - Kerung railway (Trans-Himalaya railway) project
• Construction of Kerung-Kathmandu Electrified Railway
Line starting from Kerung at China and ending at
Tokha at Kathmandu in Nepal.
• Four stations namely Rasuwagadi, Shyfrubesi, Bidur
and finally Kathmandu station
• Total Length 72km
• 98.8% Railway line consist of tunnels and bridges
• Design Speed 120km/hr
• Standard Gauge 1435mm
• One of the most complex and challenging project in
terms of its alignment terrain, geological complexity,
seismic hazard , and other operational issues

42. Kathmandu - Kerung railway (Trans-Himalaya
railway) project
• Nepal and China agreed to conduct a pre-feasibility study of Kathmandu-Kerung railway project on May
2018 China Railway
• Foreign Affairs Minister PK Gyawali, during his visit to China signed agreement with the Chinese railway
authorities to conduct the detailed feasibility study
• initial study of the railway project and estimated it would cost about Rs 69 billion to build the project.
• The planned railway network from China has currently reached Shigatse, the Tibetan autonomous region
expected to reach Kerung by 2022.
• Kerung 540 kilometres from Shigatse.
• Chinese technical team that made field visits to Kyirung, Pokhara, Lumbini and Kathmandu concluded
that Kyirung-Kathmandu-Pokhara-Lumbini railway was possible.
• An important project of the Belt and Road Initiative strongly supported by the people of Nepal is the
Kerung (China) – Kathmandu Pokhara – Lumbini railway project,which the government has proposed as a
priority

43. Kathmandu - Kerung railway (Trans-Himalaya railway) project

44. Justification of Project Selection for implementation
• Opens direct railway connectivity to China, one of
the biggest economy of the world
• Direct access to the population of more than 1
billion, huge potential for tourism
• Can be a good alternative for reliable trade
besides India
• Beneficial to the whole country
• Can be a milestone for replacement of fuel based
transportation and saving huge amount of money
spent on import of fuels

45. Internationally proposed railways connectivity proposal to Nepal
• India and Nepal had agreed for establishing the five broad gauge
railway lines;
• Recently, India has also forwarded aplan to develop regional
railway connectivity circuit connecting Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh
and Myanmar.
• The 2010 joint communiqué between India and Bangladesh agreed
that Rohanpur–Singabad broad gauge railway link would be
available for transit to Nepal, the railway line is linked up to the
Indian border near Birgunj and Biratnagar of Nepal.
• It has been observed that the prospect of Mongla-Khulna-
Rohanpur-Katihar-Biratnagar railway link will be mutually
beneficial for Bangladesh, India and Nepal
• the distance from Khulan to Biratnagar is 561 km, whereas Kolkata-
Biratnagar is 600 km.
• China had already completed its railway connectivity from Lasha to
Shigatseand has planned for completing Shigatse-Kerung railway
line by 2020. Shigatse is 500 km and Kerung 26 km from the Nepali
border of Rasuwagadhi

46. Lumbini Monorail project
• Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli has proposed
developing a monorail network connecting Buddha’s
birthplace Lumbini, Tilaurakot and Ramgram
• with the Gautam Buddha International Airport for
sustainable development of tourism in the region on
april 2018
• the prime minister said the government would begin a
feasibility study for monorail connecting the three
places important to Buddha’s life

47. Nepal-India linking five railway project
• Nepal and India have agreed to expedite cross-border rail projects
• In 2012, the government of India accepted the request of the government of Nepal to
construct cross-border railway links at five locations
• Jaynagar (India) to Bardibas (Nepal), Jogbani(India) to Biratnagar (Nepal), Nautanwa
(India) to Bhairahawa (Nepal), Rupaidiha (India) to Nepalgunj (Nepal), and New
Jalpaiguri (India) to Kakarbhitta (Nepal) on the Indo-Nepal border
• The governments of Nepal and India had planned to complete the Jogbani(Bihar)-
Biratnagar (Nepal) project in 2018, but land compensation disputes and the 2015
Indian trade blockade led to time overruns.
• The Indiangovernment has agreed to extend railway lines to three other border
points—Kakarbhitta in the east, Bhairahawa and Nepalgunj in the west—after the
Bathnaha-Biratnagar-Katahari and Jayanagar-Janakpur-Bardibas railway lines are
completed.

48. EXISTING PROBLEMS OF DEVELOPING RAILWAY IN NEPAL
• Mountainous Terrain
• Tussle between regional powers
• Regional Geo politics
• Weak economy, corruption and unstable government
• Small landlocked mountainous country sandwiched between two giant
economy (rails were never a priority of the government . That’s why railway development in Nepal
is slow)
• Economy, Technology and resources

49. Challenges Ahead
• Harsh Climate and varied terrain
• Balancing regional powers
• Scarcity of construction materials
• Sustainability of infrastructure and its security
• Lack of funding capacity/resources
• Acquisition of Land and compensation

50. Finding
• Political instability and funding.
• Geography.
• Lack of expertise and resources.

51. Conclusion
• Ninety years after Nepal had its first railway lines,
Nepal’s railway dream has revived vigorously.
• In 1927, Nepal had about 53km long railway
transport. There were two lines, one connected
Janakpur-Jainagar and Amlekhgunj-Raxaul
• Instead of expansion of the railway in the country,
Nepal’s rail network has shrunk ever since.
• funding has always remained a key issue.
• inter connectivity railway project like Mechi-
Mahakali Electric Railway (MMER), Kathmandu
metrorail, Lumbini monorail etc on process
• Transportation will be faster and secure than other
mode of transport.
• Building a railway track in mountainous region is
challenging for Nepal but it is possible.

52. Recommendation
• National need & Interest first priority;
otherwise might struck in between battle
of regional powers
• public and private sector partnership (PPP)
with secure plan, then the project might
get the solid form.
• Developing subject matter expertise
• Strict contract with contractors
• Need of trains is more in plains and hilly
than the mountainous except cross border
railways.
• The land acquisition act must me
amended on the ground reality.

53. THANKYOU!!!

54. ANY QUESTIONS ???