India is in a rail link race with China

INDIA AND NEPAL HAVE AGREED TO PUT CONCERTED EFFORTS IN RESOLVING ALL THE ISSUES EXPEDITIOUSLY FOR COMPLETION OF THEIR RAILWAY LINKS

KATHMANDU : Nepal is bracing to bring rail links from India and China up to its Capital Kathmandu and both neighbours have expressed commitment for it. Weeks after Nepal and China agreed to conduct a feasibility study of Kerung-Kathmandu railway line, India has moved one step ahead to connect its railway line from Raxual to Kathmandu.

During the India visit of Prime Minister K P Oli in April, Nepal and India had announced that Indian Railways will connect India with Kathmandu, which is seen as India’s calculative move on counter the Chinese rail plan.

India’s endeavour to expand its railways upto Kathmandu looks more realistic than the Chinese plans due to topography and comfortable geographical terrain. China and Nepal will prepare a detailed feasibility study of Chinese rail only after August, once the report of an initial technical study comes out.

Officials from Nepal and India agreed on Monday for early finalisation of the MoU for preliminary engineering cum traffic survey of the Raxaul-Kathmandu rail line.

Officials here claimed that Chinese railway line has to cross the friction of two highly sensitive Tibetan and Indian seismic plates, which are rare in the world, to reach from Kerung to Kathmandu after going through dozens of tunnels and bridges. But Indian railway is safe in this matter due to comfortable topography, they said.

India has already forwarded the text of the MoU of RaxualKathmandu railway line which is expected to be signed soon. The Indian rail link will reach Kathmandu ahead of the Chinese line even if Beijing starts construction now. During Monday’s meeting, India and Nepal also agreed to resolve all issues in the completion of lines from Jayanagar to Janakpur-Kurtha and from Jogbani to Biratnagar Customs Yard by October 2018.