A freight train laden with 5,500 tonnes of ballast reached Janakpur from Jharkhand, India, on Wednesday.

It was the first time a complete locomotive—with 53 goods wagons—had reached Janakpur through the Janakpur-Jaynagar broad-gauge railway. The journey had taken nearly 18 hours.

Binod Ojha, engineer of Nepal Railway Company, said the train returned to India after delivering the ballast.

People had gathered at Janakpur platform to welcome the train.

“Janakpur railway is the identity of nation and it is also our life line,” said Shatrudhan Sah, ward chairperson of Janakpur-1. “Thousands of people will be employed after the Janakpur-Jaynagar railway starts operating.”

The broad-gauge track has already been laid along the 34 km segment between Jaynagar and Kurtha. In the first phase, technicians from Nepal and India are making preparations to operate a train between Jaynagar and Kurtha by mid-December.

The Rs 8.8 billion Janakpur Railway Expansion and Upgradation project is divided into three segments. The first phase comprises construction of a 35km segment between Jaynagar and Kurtha; the second is constructing a 17km segment from Kurtha to Bhangaha, Mahottari; and the third constructing a 17km segment from Bhangaha to Bardibas, Mahottari.

Technicians said that the construction works in Jaynagar-Kurtha (35 km) were almost completed.

Director General of the Department of Railways Balaram Mishra said that the rail will be operated from Janakpur to Jaynagar in a lease.

“At first, we will provide lease to any company and start the railway service,” said Mishra, adding that they are going to operate railway from December 12 (Bibaha Panchami).

Railway service between Janakpur-Jaynagar was suspended four years ago. This track was built nearly 80 years ago, when India was still under British colonial rule, to transport timbers from the forest of Mahottari to India. The railway line spanned 52 km from Bijulpura in Mahottari, Nepal, to Jaynagar in Bihar, India, at that time.