After the Nepal Railway Company failed to train its staffers to operate Nepal’s sole railway service, India’s Konkan Railways Corporation Limited (KRCL) that has been managing the Jayanagar-Kurtha cross-border railway, is likely to get another one-year term extension to continue its service.

The current term of the KRCL expires in December, but the Nepal Railway Company has yet to respond to a proposal forwarded by the Indian company seeking either a contract extension or termination if Nepal is ready to operate the railway service on its own.

The decision to extend or terminate the contract is directly linked to the railway’s operation. If there is no extension, the rail service will immediately halt, as the KRCL has been providing the technical manpower.

Currently, the KRCL supplies 28 railway technicians, including engine drivers, whom the local railway administration has been paying hefty amounts in salaries and perks.

Unless Nepal Railway extends the contract with the KRCL, Nepal will have to assume full responsibility for operating the rail service after the contract’s expiry. But due to lack of technical staff, Nepal cannot operate the railway on its own.

Despite India’s offer to train Nepali technical staff free of cost for a year, Nepal has been unable to send its staff to India for various reasons.

“We have failed to send people to India for training, so this time, we have no option besides giving a one-year term extension to the KRCL,” said Niranjan Jha, general manager of Nepal Railway. “Although the final decision is yet to be made, this is how we are thinking.”

As per the existing contract, the Indian company has been providing technical services including two dozen staff and crew members to operate the rail service since it began in April 2022.

“We failed to hire the necessary staffers, which is the main reason behind this delay. We also couldn’t prepare the curriculum required for the recruitment exams to staff the rail service. Now, the Public Service Commission has agreed to hire 224 persons for various vacant positions by the end of December,” Jha said.

He informed that by the end of June or early July, new technical staff would be prepared and sent to India for training. “By the end of June, we will have prepared the curriculum to ensure that our staff are ready for training,” said Jha.

Nepal Railway faced a similar situation last year and had proposed with KRCL to individually hire a few trained Indian nationals to operate the rail service. Nepal Railway said it could not find qualified Nepali technical manpower to operate the rail service.

The rail-link was flagged off jointly by Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba and Indian Prime Minister Modi in April 2022 and was considered a milestone in strengthening cross-border connectivity between Nepal and India.

Nepal Railway has hired locomotive pilots, station managers, track engineer, and an air conditioner engineer, among others.

“For one time, the Indian side has offered free training to our staff,” said Jha. “We will send more technical staff to train in India. Once they return after training, we will have our own manpower to run the railway service.”

Nepal and India are currently working and expanding different cross border railway links, and under the Jayanagar-Bardibas section, work is underway along the 17-km Kurtha-Bhangha (Biajalpura) section.

Another is the Bathnaha (India)-Biratnagar (Morang) segment, and 70-kilometer Bardibas-Nijgadh project, which is the part of east-west railway line.

Jha said Nepal Railway is going to forward a proposal for giving a one-year term extension to KRCL. “While the current contract is valid till December-end, we will take a decision at an appropriate time and also begin groundwork to train necessary manpower,” he said.

Earlier, in November 2022, Nepal Railway had published a vacancy note seeking to hire Nepali staff, but it could not find qualified candidates and had decided to hire Indian staffers instead.

As per the Labour Act 2017, Nepali employers can hire foreign staffers if qualified individuals are not available in the country.

“If in spite of such an advertisement, no application is received from any Nepali citizen as prescribed or any Nepali citizen cannot be selected, the employer may make an application, accompanied by the evidence thereof, to the Department of Labour for a work permit for hiring foreign labour,” section 22 of the Labour Act-2017 states.

Nepal Railway has hired 115 Nepali staff including gate men, point men, and sweepers, while the technical side is handled by Indian staffers.

Jayanagar-Kurtha railway is Nepal's first cross-border broad gauge rail link and the first operational rail link between the two countries since services were halted in 2014 for infrastructure upgrade.