Kathmandu: India will be resuming its railway links with Nepal after it conducted a trial run which was deemed to be successful. 

According to the Hindustan Times, this trial run was carried over a stretch of 8.5 km, from Jayanagar in India to Khajuri in Nepal on Wednesday, with a cargo train that consisted of 53 bogies. 

This trail is being seen as a part of larger efforts to counter Chinese plans to establish better communication networks with Nepal. It can be seen as a response by Delhi authorities to bolster its efforts to improve connectivity with Nepal after Beijing decided to extend their railway links up to Kathmandu. 

Services on this line are being resumed after a long period of four years and are being seen as a precursor to full-fledged operations. Site chief with Indian Railways’ construction arm (IRCON) Ravi Sahay assured that there will be no problems in the resumption of services. 

Nepal and India already have plans to establish four cross-border railway links in total. The Janakpur-Jayanagar-Kurtha broad gauge rail link that is coming up is being done with Indian assistance and is reaching completion.

This project is divided into three phases and will cost the authorities 5.5 billion rupees. The first phase consists of the building of a 34-km line between Jayanagar and Kutha, while the second phase comprises the construction of an 18-km line from Kurtha to Bhangaha. Finally, the third phase would comprise of the building of a 17-km segment from Bhangaha to Bardibas. In this total network, only 3 km would lie within the Indian territory.