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Raxaul-Kathmandu Rail route is fixed, construction to start after Nepal's nod

The final survey report for the electrified railway line connecting Nepal's capital Kathmandu with the border town of India has been handed over to Nepal. The final location survey report of the rail route from Bihar's Raxaul to Kathmandu, known as the Gateway of Nepal, has been handed over to the Railway Department of the Government of Nepal. The construction work will start as soon as Nepal gets the green signal.

Konkan Railway Corporation Limited has done the final survey of this electrified broad gauge railway, which is very important for Nepal from an economic, commercial, and strategic point of view, with the financial cooperation of the Government of India. The Railway Department of Nepal is studying this report and will soon hand it over to the Government of India with its suggestions.

The Director General of the Nepal Railway Department, Rohit Kumar Bisural, said that there are 41 km in this 140.79-kilometre-long railway route. The proposal to construct a long tunnel has been made in the survey. According to Bisural, the need to construct a total of 101 major bridges and 122 minor bridges on the railway route from Raxaul to Kathmandu has been mentioned in the report. In this case, 18 bridges have been considered very difficult from a geographical point of view.

In the final report prepared by Konkan Railway, it is proposed to construct a total of 12 stations from Raxaul to Kathmandu. A total cost of Rs 2,390 crore is estimated for the construction of this geographically and engineeringly complex electric railway. A total of Rs 4,000 crore is estimated to be spent on the construction of railways and other physical infrastructure.

Director General of the Nepal Railway Department, Rehit Kumar Bisural, said that after the construction of this railway, not only passengers from both countries will be able to reach Kathmandu, but this project is also going to be very profitable from a commercial point of view. 70 percent of Nepal's trade imports and exports are done from India only.

Ashok Temani of the Nepal Industry Commerce Association says that after the construction of this railway route, Nepal's trade deficit will reduce, and people will also get relief due to a reduction in inflation to a great extent. Nepal is also going to get a lot of benefit from this railway from the point of view of tourism.

 

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