Chinese President Xi Jinping’s two days visit in Nepal is a success story for Nepali people. Nepal & China signed a railway link project to connect Tibet with Nepal’s capital city of Kathmandu. Dubbed as the most ambitious and critical railway project of the world the China -Nepal rail link will cost 2.5 Billion dollars.
The train track required to descend from 4,000m on the Tibetan Plateau to 1,400m above Kathmandu is so critical that the feasibility study has proposed drilling through the Himalayan with 98% of the tracks on Nepal side.
According to the deal, Nepal will bear 30% of its total cost of around $800 million of 2.5 Billion for the train line.
End of ” Dadagiri “
The train line is Nepal’s path to freedom from trade dependence on India. A total 65 percent of Nepal’s imports and 57 percent of exports are via India , only 13% import is from China. India placed a blocked in Nepal Imports due to India’s displeasure with Nepal’s Constitution adopted in 2015. After that Nepal wanted china to link this country with the Chinese communication network. Then-Prime Minister Khadga Prasad Sharma Oli visited China in 2016 and signed various agreements, the most important of them being securing transit access via Chinese ports, and an agreement for enhancing transport connectivity.
Challange in China–Nepal railway
Drilling under the mountains will minimize environmental impact in two national parks, the tunnels will traverse the Main Central Thrust faultline of the Himalaya.The railway alignment will follow the Bhote Kosi River across the Himalaya to Nuwakot, the study actually lays out a much more adventurous course under Langtang National Park, below Gosainkunda and Shivapuri National Park to enter Kathmandu Valley at Tokha. Stations will be located at bridge points where the tunnels emerge at Langtang Khola and Pati Bhanjyang.
China Nepal Railway Project is just one part of the vast One Belt, One Road Initiative from the Chinese government
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