Railways of Nepal: Every Line, Project and Map Explained

Nepal is one of Asia's least rail-served countries, yet its railway map is expanding after decades of stagnation. As of 2026 only one line carries passengers: the broad-gauge Jaynagar-Janakpur-Bhangaha section of the wider Jaynagar-Bardibas project, run by Nepal Railway Company Limited (NRCL). Two other short cross-border links, Raxaul-Sirsiya near Birgunj and the Jogbani-Biratnagar (Bathnaha-Biratnagar) line, are dedicated to freight and container traffic rather than everyday travel.

Almost all of Nepal's operating and near-operating track is Indian 5 ft 6 in (1,676 mm) broad gauge, built with Indian grant assistance and constructed by Ircon International. Behind these lie far larger ambitions: the domestic East-West (Mechi-Mahakali) Electrified Railway spanning the Tarai, and two strategic mountain corridors under study, Kathmandu-Kerung toward Tibet (China) and Raxaul-Kathmandu toward India. This page is a single-source directory of every line and project, with the facts table below summarising gauge, length, status, funder and operator.

The lead agency is the Department of Railways (Rail Vibhag), established on 15 June 2011 (2068 BS) and headquartered at Bishalnagar, Kathmandu, under the Ministry of Physical Infrastructure and Transport. It plans, builds and maintains the network, while NRCL is the public operating company for train services.

The list below groups Nepal's railways into operating lines, lines under construction, and corridors still at the survey or feasibility stage. Cross-border broad-gauge links are Indian-funded and Ircon-built; the East-West railway is a domestic government project; and the two Kathmandu corridors are competing strategic studies backed by India and China respectively.

Figures for planned lines are indicative and drawn from feasibility studies and government readouts, so route lengths and costs may change as detailed project reports (DPRs) are finalised. Dates and lengths for operating sections are more firmly established.

The Jaynagar-Janakpur train is Nepal's flagship railway and the answer to most searches for the country's rail service. It forms the operating part of the Jaynagar-Bardibas line, a cross-border route that begins at Jaynagar in the Indian state of Bihar, crosses into Nepal near Inarwa, and runs through the pilgrimage city of Janakpurdham. Trains currently run about 52 km from Jaynagar to Bhangaha (the site formerly known as Bijalpura) in Mahottari district, out of a planned 68.7 km to Bardibas.

The route was rebuilt in phases from the old narrow-gauge alignment. The first 35 km section, Jaynagar to Kurtha (just beyond Janakpur), was inaugurated on 2 April 2022 by the prime ministers of India and Nepal, with services beginning the next day. The 17 km Kurtha-to-Bhangaha extension opened on 16 July 2023. The final roughly 17 km stretch from Bhangaha to Bardibas entered survey in December 2023 and remains under construction, partly dependent on land acquisition by the Nepali government.

The line is broad gauge (1,676 mm), built by Ircon International under an Indian government grant of about NPR 8.77 billion, and operated by Nepal Railway Company Limited. Services use two Diesel-Electric Multiple Unit (DEMU) trainsets supplied by India's Konkan Railway Corporation and built at the Integral Coach Factory in Chennai. The train is popular for cheap, comfortable travel between Janakpur and the Indian border, and there have been repeated proposals to extend passenger runs onward toward Ayodhya in India.

Beyond the Janakpur passenger service, Nepal's other rail connections are freight corridors that link Indian Railways to inland container depots in the Tarai. The oldest working example is the Raxaul-Sirsiya line, a roughly 6 km broad-gauge spur opened in 2005 that connects the Indian railhead at Raxaul to the Sirsiya Inland Container Depot (ICD) near Birgunj, Nepal's busiest trade gateway. It carries container and bulk cargo rather than passengers and remains the country's most consistently used piece of railway.

The Jogbani-Biratnagar railway, technically the Bathnaha-Biratnagar line, is an 18.6 km broad-gauge freight link being built with Indian grant assistance to serve eastern Nepal's industrial hub. Around 10 km had been completed by April 2022, with the remaining stretch from the Nepal customs yard to Biratnagar still under construction. Cargo movement on the cross-border portion was inaugurated by the two prime ministers in 2023, and India-Nepal Joint Working Group meetings have repeatedly reviewed the remaining sections and freight protocols.

These freight lines matter because most Nepal-bound goods arrive through Indian ports such as Kolkata and Visakhapatnam. Direct rail access to inland depots at Birgunj and Biratnagar cuts costs and congestion, which is why cross-border rail features prominently in India-Nepal transit-treaty amendments and bilateral trade talks.

Nepal's railway story began in the Rana era. The Nepal Government Railway (NGR), the country's first railway, was a 2 ft 6 in (762 mm) narrow-gauge line built by the British and opened in 1927 (1984 BS), running about 39 km from Amlekhganj to Raxaul across the Indian border. For decades it was a key artery for goods and passengers heading toward Kathmandu via the old cart road, but it was abandoned in 1965 after the Tribhuvan Highway opened and road transport took over.

The second line, the Nepal Janakpur Jaynagar Railway (NJJR), opened in 1937 (1994 BS), also on 762 mm narrow gauge. It linked Bijalpura and Janakpur to Jaynagar in India, starting as a freight line for timber and later carrying large numbers of passengers and pilgrims to Janakpur. By the early 2000s the ageing narrow-gauge line had shrunk back toward Janakpur, and regular service ceased in March 2014 so the alignment could be rebuilt as the modern broad-gauge Jaynagar-Bardibas railway.

These two lines explain why Nepali railway heritage is concentrated in the central and eastern Tarai, and why the Janakpur name recurs so strongly in searches: the current train is the direct successor to the country's longest-lived railway.

The most ambitious Nepali-led project is the East-West Electrified Railway, also called the Mechi-Mahakali Railway, envisaged as Nepal's segment of the Trans-Asian Railway network. The main line is planned at about 945 km, running along the Tarai from Kakarbhitta (Mechi) in the east to the Mahakali/Kanchanpur area in the far west, passing through roughly 24 districts. With branch lines the total network is estimated at more than 1,300 km, including terminal, junction and intermediate stations.

Feasibility and detailed engineering studies describe a challenging build: hundreds of bridges (the longest crossing the Saptakoshi river) and several tunnels, the longest around 17.7 km. Cost estimates have been quoted in the region of USD 3 billion for the core route, though such figures are indicative and predate final DPRs. Physical work has focused on a central segment around Bardibas-Simara, where earthworks, bridges and culverts have progressed slowly since about 2014.

Unlike the Indian-funded broad-gauge border links, the East-West railway is designed as an electrified standard-gauge domestic backbone and is being pursued by the Government of Nepal with annual budget allocations. Progress has been gradual and dependent on financing and land acquisition, so realistic completion timelines remain long-term.

Two competing mountain railways aim to connect Kathmandu to its giant neighbours. The Kathmandu-Kerung (Keyrung/Gyirong) railway would link the capital to the Chinese railhead near the Tibetan border town of Kerung. The Nepal section is estimated at roughly 72 km, but the terrain is so steep that the pre-feasibility study suggested the overwhelming majority of the alignment would consist of tunnels and bridges, making it one of the most expensive railways per kilometre ever proposed. A Chinese technical team carried out the feasibility survey, with a final study report expected around mid-2026.

From the south, India is advancing the Raxaul-Kathmandu railway, a broad-gauge line of about 141 km, of which a large share (around 41 km) would be tunnel. Ircon completed a preliminary engineering-cum-traffic survey, and both governments have discussed refining the detailed project report before construction can be considered. Nepal has periodically raised concerns about alignment and technical details during Joint Working Group talks.

Both projects are as much geopolitical as engineering ventures, reflecting Indian and Chinese interest in linking their rail networks to Kathmandu. Because both are at the study or DPR stage, no construction timeline is confirmed, and readers should treat cost and length figures as provisional.

The Department of Railways is the government body responsible for planning, building and regulating railways in Nepal. It was established on 15 June 2011 (2068 BS), is based in Bishalnagar, Kathmandu, and sits under the Ministry of Physical Infrastructure and Transport. Day-to-day train operations on the Jaynagar-Janakpur line are handled by Nepal Railway Company Limited, the state-owned operating company, which initially received handholding support from India's Konkan Railway.

In practical terms, a traveller today can ride only the Janakpur-Jaynagar service; the Sirsiya and Biratnagar lines are freight-only, and everything else is under construction or study. That gap between ambition and operation is the defining feature of Nepal's railways. The near-term additions most likely to open are the Bhangaha-Bardibas extension and the completion of the Jogbani-Biratnagar freight link.

For anyone tracking a Nepal railway map, the durable picture is: a short but growing broad-gauge footprint in the central and eastern Tarai funded largely by India, a long-planned domestic East-West spine, and two headline mountain corridors toward China and India whose feasibility is still being decided. This directory will read most usefully alongside the Department of Railways' own updates, since statuses and dates shift as projects advance.