India’s Konkan Railway Corporation Limited (KRCL) has been doing the DPR of the railway project which will connect Kathmandu with the Indian border town of Raxaul in the south.
As per the memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed between Nepal and India on October 8, 2021, the detailed project report of the project should have been completed within 18 months, i.e., by mid-April, 2023. The Indian side has submitted the draft DPR two and half months later than the stipulated time. India has already given the report of the preliminary engineering and traffic survey of this railway to Nepal. According to the preliminary report prepared by KRCL, the length of the proposed Raxaul-Kathmandu railway will be 136 kilometers. As per the initial report of the Konkan Railway, a total of Rs 320bn will be required to build the broad-gauge Kathmandu-Raxaul Railway. Once completed, the broad-gauge line will give the Nepali capital a direct connection with the Indian railway network, enabling non-stop train travel to all Indian cities. The initial report of the project has shown that there will be 32 tunnels, with the longest would be eight kilometers long. The 136-kilometer-long railway project would have 40 kilometers of tunnelway and 35 small and large bridges. The preliminary study has shown that there will be 13 stations on the railway line. After receiving the DPR, the discussion about the modality of construction of the project will begin, according to the ministry officials. Nepal has been requesting India to build the project with a grant. Nepal and India had agreed to construct a cross-border electrified railway connecting Raxaul and Kathmandu during the then Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli’s India visit in April 2018. The two countries, in August 2018, exchanged a memorandum of understanding to carry out a preliminary engineering-cum-traffic survey of the broad-gauge line. With the submission of the draft DPR by India, the basis for the construction of this project has now been set. Once construction is completed, the railway line will provide Nepal with direct access to the huge Indian market. The electric railway line will also help replace fuel-based transportation, saving huge amounts of money being spent on the import of fuel, according to ministry officials. After the construction of the railway, goods can be transported directly to Kathmandu from India and third countries.
