North Eastern Railway Completes 56km Nepalganj Road-Bahraich Gauge Conversion, Extends Four Train Services

North Eastern Railway has completed broad-gauge conversion and electrification of the entire 56.15km Nepalganj Road-Nanpara-Bahraich section in Uttar Pradesh, a Rs730 crore project that brings the 140-year-old metre-gauge line into India's broad-gauge network, according to a Press Information Bureau release from the Ministry of Railways.

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and Union Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw marked the completion on August 31, in a deliberately low-key ceremony -- Vaishnaw joined virtually from Rail Bhawan -- after the event coincided with deadly flash floods on the Nepal-China border. The PIB release opened with two minutes' silence for flood victims and said Indian Railways had deployed special coaches to help move affected passengers, citing India and Nepal's close cultural ties.

Four services have been extended up to Nepalganj Road over the newly converted line: the Varanasi-Bahraich Express (14213/14214), the Varanasi City-Gorakhpur Express (15132/15131), and the Gonda-Bahraich passenger trains (75109/75110 and 75111/75112).

The completed line restores a direct broad-gauge rail link to Nepalganj Road, a town on the India-Nepal border, strengthening freight and passenger connectivity in the border region and closing out a conversion programme that began years earlier on one of the network's last metre-gauge holdouts.