Transport in Nepal

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Nepal is a landlocked country where transportation is difficult due to the mountainous terrain. Modern transportation in Nepal has just started in the 20th century.

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Railways were the first type of transport introduced in Nepal by the Nepal Railway Company. The first railway line began in 1927 with the length of 48 kilometres (30 mi) between Amlekhganj and Raxaul (India). [1]

The Government of Nepal also established many organisations and offices in 1950 to construct and maintain the roads inside and outside Kathmandu valley. [2]


OfficeWork
Batokaj GoswaraConstruction and maintenance of roads inside Kathmandu
Banaune AddaConstruction and maintenance of roads outside Kathmandu
Samajung CompanyRepairs of roads inside Kathmandu valley
Naya Batokaj AddaConstruction of New road outside Kathmandu

The first highway, the Tribhuvan Highway was constructed in November 1952 between Kathmandu and Amlekhganj. The first vehicles (jeeps) were run on this road by Queen Kanti Rajyalaxmi in December 1953, on the fifth day of her marriage. Trucks could only pass through this road 2 years later, after 1955. [3]

Road

Statistics of National Highway SNH-2020/21 and Provincial Transport Master Plan (PTMP) guidelines clears that the authority of the National Highway of Nepal resides with central government and the other roads has been handed over to provincial governments and local governments. [4] [5]

Administration of roads in Nepal
#GovernmentAdministrative bodyCoordination withType
1Federal government Department of Roads (under MoPIT) National Highway
2Provincial governmentTID or IDD or IDO (under MoPID) DoLI Provincial Highway
3Local governmentMunicipal government DoLI Urban/rural road

Road transport is the country's primary transportation mode. The Economic Survey 2022-23 released by the Ministry of Finance (Nepal), shows that the country had a total road network of national road length of 34,100 km that only included roads constructed and maintained by the Department of Roads (DoR). This only included the national highway system [6]

Road System Classification [4] [5]
TypeDescriptionAverage
speed limit
NHNational Highways are the major highways connecting Eastern Nepal with Western Nepal, and Southern Nepal with Northern. They are designated by the letters 'NH' followed by a two-digit number.80 kmph
PHProvincial Highways are the highways under provincial governments that run inside the respective provinces. They are designated by the letters 'PH' followed by two letters to designate the Province and then a three-digit number.60 kmph
U/RUrban/Rural roads are roads that reside within the municipality or rural municipality intended to serve within a specific metro, sub-metro, municipality or rural-municipality.40 kmph

National Highways

Rail

The Nepal Government Railway had operated a short narrow gauge railway from 1927 to 1965. As of 2022, there are two operational railway lines in the country, both of which connect Nepal with India: the Raxaul–Sirsiya and the Jainagar–Janakpur. The former is a 6 km (3.7 mi) line from Raxaul, India to Sirsiya Inland Container Depot (or dry port) near Birgunj, Nepal, and is primarily used for freight transport. [7] It allows container traffic to be imported to Nepal through the Sirsiya dry port container depot. [8] The latter is a 51 km (32 mi) line from Jaynagar, India to Janakpur, Nepal, and is used primarily for passenger transport. [9]

Nepal and India agreed to construct 8 different India–Nepal cross-border rail lines, this includes linking Raxaul with Kathmandu, during Prime Minister K.P. Oli's visit to India. [10] A team of technical officers visited Kathmandu to study the proposed railway from Raxaul to Kathmandu and have stated that a feasibility study of the project would begin. They have already identified Chobhar as the terminus of the 113 km-long line. [11]

The China–Nepal railway is a planned line through Kathmandu, linking India with Lhasa in Tibet. It was proposed by the K.P. Oli government and in November 2017, Chinese media reported the arrival of a delegation of Chinese railway experts in Nepal. They discussed the possibility of a rail connection between China and Nepal. [12] In August 2018, the two sides reached an agreement on construction details of the railway. [13] [14]

Air

There are 53 airports in Nepal as of 2020 out of which 34 are in operation. There are three international airports that serve as aviation hubs: The Tribhuvan International Airport in Kathmandu, The Gautam Buddha International Airport in Lumbini, and The Pokhara International Airport in Pokhara.

TypePaved
runways		Unpaved
runways
Under 914 m(3000 feet)311
914–1,523 m(3000–5000 feet)71
1,524–2,437 m(5000–8000 feet)10
2,437–3,047 m(8000–10,000 feet)00
Over 3,047 m(over 10,000 feet)10
Total402

Airports redundant and not in operation

Ropeways

Water

Nepal is a landlocked country that does not have any territory connected to an ocean. [15]

Nepal's three dry ports are Birgunj, Biratnagar, and Bhairahawa.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tribhuvan University</span> Public university in Kathmandu, Nepal

Tribhuvan University is a public university located in Kirtipur, Kathmandu, Nepal. Established in 1959, TU is the oldest and the largest university in Nepal. It offers 1,000 undergraduate and 500 postgraduate programs across a wide range of disciplines. Additionally, the institution has 62 constituent campuses and over 1,080 affiliated colleges across the country.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Birgunj</span> Metropolitan City in Madhesh Province, Nepal

Birgunj is a metropolitan city in Parsa District in Madhes Pradesh in southern Nepal. It lies 135 km (84 mi) south of the capital Kathmandu, attached in the north to Raxaul on the border of the Indian state of Bihar. As an entry point to Nepal from Patna, Birganj is known as the "Gateway of Nepal". It is also called the "Commercial Capital of Nepal". The town has significant economic importance for Nepal as most of the trade with India is via Birganj and the Indian town of Raxaul. The Tribhuvan Highway links Birgunj to Nepal's capital, Kathmandu.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Raxaul</span> Town in Bihar, India

Raxaul is a sub-divisional town in the East Champaran district of the Indian state of Bihar. It is situated at the India-Nepal border with Birgunj city (Nepal). Raxaul is a major railway junction.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Butwal</span> Sub-Metropolitan City, Rupandehi Nepal

Butwal, officially Butwal Sub-Metropolitan City ,previously known as Khasyauli, is a sub-metropolitan city and economic hub in Lumbini Province in West Nepal. Butwal has a city population of 195,054 as per the 2021 AD Nepal census.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Institute of Medicine, Nepal</span> Medical institution in Nepal

The Institute of Medicine (IOM) is one of the five technical institutes under Nepal's Tribhuvan University.

Gaur is a municipality and headquarters of Rautahat district of Narayani zone, Nepal. It lies at the border of Nepal that links India via Bairgania and has a customs checkpoint.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mahendra Highway</span> Major road in Nepal

Mahendra Highway or NH01, also called East-West Highway, runs across the Terai geographical region of Nepal, from Mechinagar in the east to Bhim Datta in the west, cutting across the entire width of the country. It is the longest highway in Nepal and was constructed in cooperation with various countries. The highway is named after King Mahendra Shah.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Malangwa</span> Headquarter of Sarlahi district, Nepal

Malangwa is a town, a municipality, and the headquarter of Sarlahi District in Madhesh Province of Nepal. The district's oldest municipality, it is in parliamentary constituency 2. From the Mahendra Highway 25 kilometres (16 mi) south of Nawalpur, a small highway side town. Situated at an altitude of 79 meters (259 ft) above sea level, Malangwa is near the Indian border at Sonbarsa. There is a customs checkpoint at the border crossing.

Amlekhganj (Nepali:अमलेखगंज) is a town and Village Development Committee in Bara District in the Narayani Zone of south-eastern Nepal. At the time of the 2011 Nepal census it had a population of 6,709 people living in 1370 individual households. There were 3,413 males and 3,296 females at the time of census. At one time it was famed as the starting point of the Nepal Government Railway (NGR) which connected it with Raxaul in India.

Gamhariya was a village development committee in Rautahat District in the Narayani Zone of south-eastern Nepal.

Jitpursimara is a sub-metropolitan city in Bara District in Province No. 2 of southern Nepal that was formed on 10 March 2017 after merging Gadhimai Municipality, Inarwasira, Amlekhganj, as well as parts of Manharwa, Haraiya and Rampur Tokani to form a new sub-metropolitan city. At the time of the 2011 Nepal census, the former settlements that would make up the sub-metropolitan city had a joint population of 117,094 people living in 21,670 individual households.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tribhuvan Highway</span> Highway in Nepal

The Tribhuvan Highway (Nepali: त्रिभुवन राजपथ) connects the outskirts of Kathmandu, the capital of Nepal, with Birganj/Raxaul on the Nepal-India border. NH 28 and NH 28A links Raxaul with Lucknow/Barauni and other locations in India.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nepal Transport Service</span>

Nepal Transport Service was the first, and for a time, the largest, Nepalese public bus line. The company was based in the capital Kathmandu and operated from 1959 to 1966. Its head office was located at 122 Asan Tyouda Tol, Kathmandu.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nepal Government Railway</span>

The Nepal Government Railway (NGR) was Nepal's first railway. Established in 1927 and closed in 1965, it linked Amlekhganj with Raxaul across the border in India in the south. The 2 ft 6 in narrow gauge railway was 47 km long.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Madhesh Province</span> Province of Nepal

Madhesh Province is a province of Nepal in the Terai region with an area of 9,661 km2 (3,730 sq mi) covering about 6.5% of the country's total area. It has a population of 6,126,288 as per the 2021 Nepal census, making it Nepal's most densely populated province and the smallest province by area. It borders Koshi Pradesh to the east and the north, Bagmati Province to the north, and India’s Bihar state to the south and the west. The border between Chitwan National Park and Parsa National Park acts as the provincial boundary in the west, and the Kosi River forms the provincial border in the east. The province includes eight districts, from Parsa in the west to Saptari in the east.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Raxaul Junction railway station</span> Railway station in Bihar

Raxaul Junction railway station is a main railway station in East Champaran district, Bihar. Its code is RXL. It serves Raxaul city and also as gateway to Nepal as the most important station on the Indo-Nepal border. The station consists of five platforms.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nijgadh International Airport</span> Airport development project in Nepal

Nijgadh International Airport is a proposed hub-airport, located in Kolhabi, directly 68 km (42 mi) to the south of Kathmandu, near the town of Nijgadh in Madhesh Federal Province, Nepal. It is targeted to be completed by 2025 with an estimated investment of US$6.7 billion. If constructed, it would be the largest airport in South Asia and the fourth largest airport in the world in terms of land area. The airport is intended to relieve expected capacity restraints at Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA) in Kathmandu.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Department of Railways (Nepal)</span>

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Motihari-Amlekhgunj pipeline is a 69 km (43 mi) long trans-border petrolium pipeline between Amlekhgunj Oil Depot in Parsa of Nepal and Motihari of India. This pipeline transports petroleum from Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) to Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC). It is also the first ever trans-national pipeline in the Indian subcontinent. It has an annual capacity of two million metric tonn.

References

  1. ↑ "Introduction". Department of railway. 20 Jan 2020. Retrieved 10 Jul 2024.
  2. ↑ "Historical background and events". Department of roads. 2018. Retrieved 10 Jul 2024.
  3. ↑ "नेपालको पहिलो राजमार्ग : सत्तरी वर्षमा 'त्रिभुवन राजपथ'" [First Highway of Nepal: Tribhuvan Highway in 70 years] (in Nepali). Ghatna ra Bichar. 31 Dec 2022. Retrieved 10 Jul 2024.
  4. 1 2 "Provincial Transport Guidelines" (PDF). MoPID (Nepal). Jun 2023. Retrieved 8 Jul 2024.
  5. 1 2 "Statistics of National Highway [SNH 2020-21]". Department of Roads, Nepal. Retrieved 24 March 2023.
  6. ↑ "Economy Survey 2022-23" (PDF). 13 March 2024.
  7. ↑ "Nepal Railway Assessment" . Retrieved 4 August 2018.
  8. ↑ "Introduction". customs.gov.np. Department of Customs dryport office, Government of Nepal. Retrieved 3 December 2017.
  9. ↑ "Indian goods train from Jayanagar arrives in Janakpur".
  10. ↑ "India And Nepal To Speed Up Raxaul-Kathmandu Rail Project". 11 July 2018. Retrieved 4 August 2018.
  11. ↑ "DoR says land acquisition a major hurdle". www.kathmandupost.ekantipur.com. Kantipur Publications. 24 July 2018. Retrieved 16 August 2018.
  12. ↑ 中方铁路代表团赴尼泊尔开展铁路调研 (A team of Chinese railway representatives visit Nepal to initiate a railway study), 2017-11-14
  13. ↑ Giri, A; Giri, S (24 August 2018). "Nepal, China agree on rail study". The Kathmandu Post. Retrieved 22 September 2018.
  14. ↑ "Nepal in talks with China to build $8 bn cross-border rail link". Times of India. May 14, 2017. Archived from the original on 2017-09-01.
  15. ↑ "Transportation in Nepal : Roadways, Airways, Railways, Waterways, Ropeways". ImNepal.com. 2016-09-15. Retrieved 2017-11-08.

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