Rail project to start off by building 5-km track bed

KATHMANDU, DEC 05 -The government has hired three contractors to build the track bed on a 5-km stretch of the Simara-Bardibas section of the East-West Electrical Railway. The Department of Railways said it had called the three companies to sign a contract. The construction will be done as per the detailed project report (DPR) prepared by South Korean consultants.


The track bed is the foundation on which the railway track will be laid. The bed is being laid based on the government’s plan to start construction of the ambitious railway line in the current fiscal year. “Since we are in the initial phase of the project, the construction is being started this year on a small scale with the track bed,” said Rajeshwor Man Singh, superintendent engineer of the department. He added that the section the contractors would be working on falls in the western part of Bardibas.

The construction project consists of drainage structures, animal crossings, underpasses, embankments, earthen drains and bio-engineering works, according to the department. The 108-km Simara-Bardibas section of the East-West Railway is considered to be one of the most suitable sections for developing a railway network as the Indian government has supported Nepal to extend the Janakpur-Jayanagar railway up to Bardibas using broad gauge track.

The DPR prepared by the Korean firms last year had concluded that the construction of the Simara-Bardibas section including a 36-km Simara-Birgunj link will cost around Rs 100 billion. In accordance with the government’s priorities, the department will start work to conduct a DPR of the western section of the Butwal-Gaddachoki section which is around 420 km long.

Singh said that they were doing the final preparations to invite the short listed firms to submit requests for proposal (RFP) to carry out the DPR. In the first phase, the department plans to hire consultants for the Butwal-Lamahi (115 km) and Lamahi-Kohalpur (102 km) sections among the four sections in the western Butwal-Gaddachoki sector.

The DPR will include a detailed design of the railway routes, the infrastructure required alongside the track, cost estimates and bid documents for construction. The government has allocated Rs 1.4 billion in this year’s budget for railway works which will be used for the construction of the track bed and the DPR of the Butwal-Gaddachoki section. The ambitious railway project will connect Kakkarbhitta in the east with Gaddachoki in the west passing through various business hubs in the Tarai.