The Chinese Government believes a rail line between China and Nepal would strongly boost bilateral trade and tourism between the nations.
State-owned media outlet the China Daily late last week reported that government experts, at the request of the Nepalese Government, had begun to look into a rail line which would tunnel under Mount Everest to link the two Asian nations.
“If the proposal becomes a reality, bilateral trade, especially in agricultural products, will get a strong boost, along with tourism and people-to-people exchanges,” Chinese Academy of Engineering rail expert Wang Menshu said.
A 251km extension to China’s national railway was completed from Lhasa to Xigaze in August. State sources reported in December that China plans to extend this railway 540km to Kerung – the Chinese town nearest to Nepal – by 2020.
But China believes there is more potential in that extension. During a visit to Nepal late last year, foreign minister Wang Yi reportedly discussed extending the line to Kathmandu, Nepal’s capital, and potentially beyond that.
Reports in state media last week furthered that message, and drew attention from a variety of sources after the potential route was detailed.
“The changes in elevation along the line are remarkable,” Wang Menshu said. “And the line will probably have to go through Qomolangma so that workers may have to dig some very long tunnels.”
Qomolangma is known to most English speakers as Mount Everest.
Wang said engineers will face a variety of technical difficulties once the project begins. Those engineering difficulties, and other physical factors, will likely restrict trains running on the line to a maximum speed of 120 km/h, he said.