India plans rail link to five Nepal cities
http://english.people.com.cn/200704/08/eng20070408_364725.html
India plans to extend railway service to five southern Nepali cities bordering India, local media reported on Sunday.
According to The Himalayan Times daily report, the proposed lines will run from Nepalgunj road in Uttar Pradesh to Nepalgunj ( 12 km), Nautuna to Bhairahawa (15 km), Jayanagar to Bardibas (70 km), Jogban to Biratnagar (17 km) and New Jalpaigudi to Kakarvitta (46 km).
Engineering and traffic report of Rail India Technical and Economic Services (RITES) found the need to extend railway services to the Nepali cities, a high-level official of Indian Railway Ministry said.
Conclusion will be drawn after carrying out a feasibility study soon, the official said.
Rail line will be extended to one of the routes immediately after the economic and technical feasibility study leads to an agreement between the governments of India and Nepal, an official at the Indian Railway ministry was quoted as saying.
Sunday, April 8, 2007
India mulls railway to Nepal
http://www.kantipuronline.com/kolnews.php?&nid=105993
AFP
NEW DELHI, April 8, 2007 - Indian officials are exploring five options for a railway to neighbouring Nepal, speeding up efforts after China opened its first rail link to Tibet last year, a report said Saturday.
The surveys on the viability of the rail projects have acquired "top priority" in the railway ministry because of concerns over Chinese plans to extend the Tibetan line to the Nepal border, the Indian Express reported.
The Tibet railway, which opened in July, runs 1,142 kilometers (713 miles) from Qinghai province to Lhasa, the capital of Tibet, making it the highest line in the world.
Kathmandu said last year that Beijing was willing to extend the line into Nepal.
"Although the Lhasa-Nepal link may neither be technically feasible nor financially viable, the strategic importance of such a link cannot be undermined," a senior Indian railway official told the newspaper.
China also has plans to build a railway line to the Tibetan town of Chomo near a Himalayan border pass to the Indian state of Sikkim in the next 10 years.
Last year, India and China agreed to open the border pass to revive direct trade. The pass was closed 44 years ago following a brief war between the two nations.
The two Asian giants have also been holding talks to sort out a decades-old border row, though the border has remained largely peaceful since the war.
Posted on: 2007-04-07 22:00:48 (Server Time)
AFP
NEW DELHI, April 8, 2007 - Indian officials are exploring five options for a railway to neighbouring Nepal, speeding up efforts after China opened its first rail link to Tibet last year, a report said Saturday.
The surveys on the viability of the rail projects have acquired "top priority" in the railway ministry because of concerns over Chinese plans to extend the Tibetan line to the Nepal border, the Indian Express reported.
The Tibet railway, which opened in July, runs 1,142 kilometers (713 miles) from Qinghai province to Lhasa, the capital of Tibet, making it the highest line in the world.
Kathmandu said last year that Beijing was willing to extend the line into Nepal.
"Although the Lhasa-Nepal link may neither be technically feasible nor financially viable, the strategic importance of such a link cannot be undermined," a senior Indian railway official told the newspaper.
China also has plans to build a railway line to the Tibetan town of Chomo near a Himalayan border pass to the Indian state of Sikkim in the next 10 years.
Last year, India and China agreed to open the border pass to revive direct trade. The pass was closed 44 years ago following a brief war between the two nations.
The two Asian giants have also been holding talks to sort out a decades-old border row, though the border has remained largely peaceful since the war.
Posted on: 2007-04-07 22:00:48 (Server Time)
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