India has completed the fieldwork for the proposed Raxaul-Kathmandu Railway. The study of the railway line connecting Nepal's capital to the Indian town bordering India and Nepal has come as a Chinese technical team started a detailed feasibility study of the proposed Kerung-Kathmandu Railway. The two neighboring countries of Nepal are conducting the study for cross-border railways linking Nepal’s capital Kathmandu with their own grant assistance. But officials say there is still no clarity about the construction of these railway lines and the financing modality for developing these connectivity projects. In late December last year, a-six member Chinese technical team representing the China Railway First Survey and Design Institute Group arrived in Nepal for the feasibility study of the trans-Himalayan railway. “They have conducted the field visit once and are making other necessary preparations,” said an official of the Department of Railway. The Chinese team is expected to take 42 months to complete the detailed feasibility study of the project.

But the work being carried out by the Indian side has reached a much-advanced stage. “The Indian side completed the fieldwork of the Final Location Survey of the proposed broad gauge railway line linking Raxaul to Kathmandu,” the official said. “We have been notified that the report will be prepared by May this year.”

With the Indian side starting the work on the project much earlier, it will complete the task earlier than the Chinese side which is starting the study now. With China adopting a strict 'zero-Covid policy' earlier, travels to and from China were difficult delaying the detailed feasibility study. Pre-feasibility studies of both projects have been completed. Konkan Railways Corporation of India has prepared a preliminary engineering-cum-traffic survey or pre-feasibility study of the proposed Raxaul-Kathmandu Railway Project. As per the pre-feasibility study, the railway line will start from India's Raxaul and pass through Nepal's Jitpur, Nijgadh, Sikharpur, Sisneri, and Sathikhel before connecting Chobhar, Kathmandu. As per the study, the railway line will have 41 bridges and 40 curves. Once completed, the railway line is expected to provide Nepal direct access to the huge Indian market and its large population and offer enormous potential for the development of Nepal’s tourism, Nepali officials say. The electric railway line will also help replace fuel-based transportation, saving huge amounts of money being spent on the import of fuel, they say. The China First Survey and Design Institute prepared the pre-feasibility study of the Kathmandu-Kerung Railway which was handed over to Nepali officials in December 2018 by the National Railway Authority of China. The Kerung-Kathmandu railway will be part of the 550-km railroad connecting the Tibetan city of Shigatse with Kerung near the Nepal-China border. The report pointed out the difficulty of constructing the railway due to difficult geophysical terrains and other complexities. China's Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) prioritizes connectivity with Nepal, therefore India started a variety of connectivity projects like roads, rivers, and the Kathmandu-Raxaul railway in response. The two neighbors decided to build a new electrified rail route between Raxaul and Kathmandu with India's financial backing during former Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli's state visit to India in April 2018. In a joint communique released at the time, both countries envisioned the goal of building the railway to increase connectivity in order to strengthen inter-people connections and foster economic growth and development. A memorandum of agreement (MoU) was signed by Nepal and India in August 2018 to conduct a preliminary engineering and traffic survey of the broad-gauge line. Similarly, both countries signed an MoU on performing a final location study in October 2021. In October 2019, during Chinese President Xi Jinping's visit, Nepal committed to producing a thorough project study for the Kerung-Rasuwagadhi railway. The two parties inked an agreement relating to the technical assistance scheme for the China-Aid Feasibility Study of the China-Nepal Cross-Border Railway Project during the official visit of Former Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi to Kathmandu in March of last year. As per the agreement, the Chinese government would bear all costs associated with the feasibility study.