It will take at least five years to build the proposed railway connecting the capital Kathmandu with the Indian border town of Raxaul. The report prepared by the Konkan Railway Corporation on behalf of the Government of India shows that it will take at least five years to complete the construction of the Kathmandu-Raxaul railway.
The report was handed over by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi June 1 during the visit of Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal (Prachanda) to India ( May 31-June 3, 2023).
The detailed construction report (DPR) of the project was supposed to be completed in 2021. However, due to reasons including the Covid-19 pandemic, the preparation of the report has been completed only this year.
Eight stages of railroad construction
Even though it is called 'Final Report', it has yet to get a final touch. It will be finalized once the Nepali sided goes through it in detail and submits suggestions.
If the report is passed by both sides within this year and the Indian side also shows readiness, the construction of the railway will start from 2024.
When the detailed report is passed and finalized, then the second phase of railway construction will begin. In the second phase, land acquisition will be done. As mentioned in the report, the land acquisition will take two years. If things go as planned, the land acquisition work is completed by the end of 2024-25.
However, this does not mean that other railway construction works will not take place during the two-year phase of land acquisition. Along with the land acquisition work, other works of the third phase will have started. Construction works of railways, tunnels and bridges will continue at necessary places during this period. According to the report, these works will be completed by 2027.
During this period (years 2024, 2025, 2026) as the fourth stage, there will be construction of 'track bed', including laying the railway track.
Like the fourth phase, the duration of the fifth, sixth and seventh phases will also be three years. In the fifth phase, the buildings and structures required for the railway will be constructed. The sixth phase will include tunneling and the seventh phase will include electrification and power supply. The work of the eighth phase will also be done during this period. Signaling and telecommunication related work has been placed under the eighth phase.
The 'final test and communication' related works will be done under the ninth phase (2027). If things go as planned, the Raxaul-Kathmandu railway will be completed by 2027.
(Konkan Railway’s report)
Four alternative routes
A feasibility study was started by drawing four hypothetical routes for the Raxaul-Kathmandu railway. Among them, the shortest and cheapest route has been justified and the Indian side has handed over the report to Nepal after conducting a detailed feasibility study.
This recognized route reaches Chobhar in Kathmandu via Raxaul-Birgunj-Belhwa-Manaharwa-Sapahi Bazaar-Nijgadh-Makawanpur-Diyal-Shikharpur-Sisneri-Satikhel.
When the feasibility study was started, two more routes coming through Makwanpur's Manthali were also discussed. Among these, the first alternative route was Birgunj-Jitpur-Piparwa-Ratanpur-Hatia-Hetauda-Ambhanjyang-Makawanpurgadhi-Shikharpur-Manthali-Panchakanya-Dakshinkali and Kathmandu.
As mentioned in the DPR, the distance of this route from Raxaul-Birgunj to Kathmandu via Manthali would be 170.96 km.
The second option route will also come via Manthali. However, after reaching Jitpur from Raxaul, this route would go through Piparwa-Dumarwana instead of Piparwa-Ratanpur. Then the railway of this route would go through Dumarwana-Kakadi-Nijgadh-Sripur-Hatiya-Hetauda-Ambhanjyang-Makwanpurgarhi-Shikharpur-Manthali-Panchkanya-Dakshinkali to Chobhar.
The distance of this route of the second option would be 190.3 km.
The third alternative route would reach Kathmandu via Belhwa-Manaharwa-Sapahi Bazaar-Nijgadh-Chandrapur-Diyal-Shikharpur-Gundu-Faparbari-Betini-Manthali-Chandrapur-Thingan-Panchakanya-Satikhel from Birganj.
According to the DPR report, this railway on the third alternative route is the longest, i.e., 197.38 km long.
The route of the fourth option recognized in the DPR is not that different from the route of the third option. It was said, the third alternative route would reach Kathmandu via Raxaul-Belhwa-Manaharwa-Saphi Bazaar-Nijgadh-Chandrapur-Diyal-Shikharpur-Gundu-Faparbari-Betini-Manthali-Chandrapur-Thingan-Panchakanya-Satikhel.
However, the route recognized by the feasibility study does not go towards Gundu-Faparbari-Betini-Manthali-Chandrapur-Thingan-Panchakanya after Shikharpur. Instead it starts from Shikharpur towards Sisneri and enters Kathmandu via Satikhel.
Its starting point is 140.790 km from Raxaul in India to Chobhar in Kathmandu.
Double track from Shikharpur
The interesting aspect of this recognized railway is that this railway will be 'single track' from Raxaul to Shikharpur. The single track distance from Raxaul-Shikharpur is 94.065 km.
However, after moving towards Sisneri from Shikharpur, a 'double track' will be constructed.
As the terrain from Shikharpur is complex, (i.e., more uphill and downhill) a double track railway is planned to be constructed from Shikharpur-Sisneri-Satikhel to Kathmandu (Chobhar) in a distance of 46.725 km.
Out of this, the width of the 'single track' railway will be 7.85 meters and the width of the 'double track' railway will be 13.16 meters.
The railway from Shikharpur-Kathmandu will not only be a 'double track', most of this section will pass through tunnels and high bridges built in deep gorges.
Starting from Raxaul, the 3.88 km section of the railway will be constructed on Indian soil. The length of the railway towards Nepal will be 136.935 km.
This railway will have 45 turns. The distance of all the turnings is 51.473 km. There will be 31 tunnels throughout the railway. The total length of the tunnels will be 40.865 km.
As mentioned in the report, there will be 18 big bridges in the distance from Raxaul to Kathmandu. The number of medium level bridges will be 101. Similarly, there will be 122 normal bridges.
Similarly, there will be two overhead bridges and 17 underpasses on the railway.
Passenger trains can run at a speed of 120 km per hour on this railway. The maximum speed of freight trains will be 90 km per hour.
Eleven railway stations will be constructed in the distance of about 141 km from Raxaul to Kathmandu.
(Technicians of Konkan Railway in course of DPR preparation)
The cost is nearly four billion
The detailed project report shows that the cost of this railway will be 239 billion 453 million 300 thousand Indian rupees.
According to the current exchange rate, this is about four billion Nepali rupees.
The Indian government has already announced that this railway will be built under Nepal-India cooperation. The entire cost of the elaborate project was borne by the Government of India.
After the discourse of the Kathmandu-Kerung railway connecting Nepal-China hit the headlines, the discussion of the construction of the Raxaul-Kathmandu railway started. In 2018, Nepali Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi agreed that this railway would be built with Indian assistance.
Although the DPR construction work was set to be completed by 2021, it was delayed by two years. Like 'DPR', if there is a delay in the construction of the railway, the railway, which is targeted to be completed in five years, may not be during this period.
