Since the first railway was built by the British in Nepal in 1927, the country has seen a steady increase in passenger trains, and more will follow. Nepal’s own passenger train is scheduled to leave Chennai, India, in mid-February this year for Janakpur, and most likely to enter service in December of that year. The first passenger train of the Indian Railways (IRT) from Mumbai to Kathmandu, India, has given in to Nepal’s demand for its own train service, which is scheduled to run from Chennai to India in mid-February.
The Indian side is already completed and testing of the new train has already begun, with construction completed last year. The Birgunj-Kathmandu Railway has begun construction of a new railway line from Rasuwagadhi to Janakpur, the second largest city in the country and the capital of Nepal. According to the detailed project report on railway lines prepared by the Nepal Railways Authority (NRA), a joint venture between the Indian Railway Corporation (IRC) and the Nepal Railway Company (KRC), the countries are conducting a study on the DPR for the “Rasu wag adhi” or “Kathmandu Railway,” which is said to have been started in late 2014 under the auspices of the Ministry of Transport and Highways (MHA) of India.
India has also put forward a proposal to develop a regional rail network linking Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh and Myanmar. This will go a long way towards extending the main Indian railways that exist to Nepal, “she concluded.
According to Nepalese railway authorities, the construction of tunnels and bridges is estimated at between $1.5 billion and $2 billion. There are no tunnels or bridges, and it is estimated that it will cost about $3 to $4 billion per kilometer, according to the Nepal Railway. According to the Nepal Railway, the cost of tunnelling and bridge building in Nepal and the development of tunnels, bridges and tunnels in Bhutan, Bangladesh, Myanmar and Myanmar is estimated at around $5 billion, $6 billion and $7 billion respectively.
It is estimated that the Gyirong – Kathmandu railway line would cost about rupees. According to Nepal Railway, 257 billion will be built. [Sources: 12]
The construction projects include railway lines in Nepal and Tibet, which are still in the planning stage, and a newly planned dry port in Kathmandu, sources said. Meanwhile, preparations are underway for the construction of the Nepal-Tibet railway line from Gyirong to Tibet. Sources say it is expected to be operational late this year or early next.
The railway project, which involves laying 72 kilometres of rail linking Tibet with Kathmandu, is considered a huge technical challenge, and there is no doubt that Beijing has a strong interest in implementing it. Beijing also wants to push ahead with the Tibet-Nepal link project, which is part of the bilateral agreement that Nepal and China signed in 2018 but has not yet gained much traction. Building railway lines between India and Nepal has been less difficult due to the terrain in which the Nepal-China railway line faces obstacles.
The real railroad connect among Tibet and Nepal is still in the arranging stage, yet could be operational in the mid 2020s. If the Tibet-Nepal railway is actually built, it could mean a change in the development of the country’s railway infrastructure.
At present, India and China are competing in some way to develop the railway link between Tibet and Nepal and other parts of the country. The development of a railway in Nepal will not only benefit the Nepalese, but also has the potential to bring about fundamental change for both China and India.
Bipin Adhikari, a leading supporter and critic, said: “The line is feasible, but only if it runs from Pokhara to Lumbini. Zafar said Nepal was ready to send freight trains from Rahanpur, Singabad and Biratganj on the route. An expert who was recently in Nepal to carry out a feasibility study for a railway line similar to the one that runs from Kerung on the border with Tibet to Kathmandu said that the line was feasible. Recently, the National Railway Corporation of India (NRCI) and the Indian Railway Board (IRB) have assessed the feasibility of a railway link between Tibet and Nepal and other parts of the country.
In a future where Kathmandu could see trains from China and India, reasonable assumptions assume that the China-Nepal-India rail link, which turns Nepal into a transit market, will be an important factor in the development of the country’s economy and its economy as a whole. Finally, Nepal plans to expand the railway line to India and reap the benefits. The history of transport in Nepal was established when two large railways on the border with India were put into operation in 1884 and 1887. Only the short distance was used because it was too expensive to transport the goods used on these two Indian railways from Bangladesh to Nepal.