Why is Dragon in a hurry regarding the Nepal-China cross border railway line, know what will be the loss to India?

Nepal-China Cross Border Railway: A day after the formation of the Communist Party government in Nepal, Xi Jinping has become active regarding the Nepal-China cross-border railway line. China is in such a hurry about this project that on the very second day of Prachanda becoming PM, it sent a team of technical experts to Kathmandu to study this project. Pushpa Kamal Dahal alias Prachanda, chairman of the CPN (Maoist Centre), was administered the oath of office and secrecy on Monday itself with the support of another Communist party, the CPN-UML.

The Chinese Embassy in Kathmandu said in a tweet post – The expert team for the feasibility study and survey of the China-Nepal cross-border railway arrived on Tuesday and was welcomed by Charge d’Affaires Wang Xin, this is an important implementation of the consensus of our leaders And it is a concrete step for the benefit of Nepal. According to Nepali media reports, the Chinese side will carry out the feasibility under Chinese grant, which will cost around 180.47 million RMB or 3.5 billion Nepali rupees. It will take about 42 months to complete the feasibility study of the project. During the visit of Nepal’s outgoing Foreign Minister Narayan Khadka to China in August 2022, China had agreed to send the technical team at the end of December.

Railway line will be 72 km long

An official of Nepal’s railway department said that according to the agreement between the Nepali and Chinese ministers, the Chinese side has sent a team of experts to Kathmandu to conduct a feasibility study of the Kerung-Kathmandu railway, which will be 72 km long. A pre-feasibility study of the proposed railway line, conducted by the China Railway First Survey and Design Institute Group, stated that the rail project would cost around $3 billion to complete. The company had done a pre-feasibility study of the project in 2018. The first batch of Chinese experts arrived in Kathmandu on Tuesday to conduct a feasibility study and survey of the China-Nepal cross-board railway, a long-cherished dream of the Nepalese people and a long-cherished dream of both our An important consensus has been reached by the leaders of the countries.

Cross border railway line project is an important part of China’s BRI
The project is an integral part of the joint construction of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) between China and Nepal. China attaches priority to Nepal’s aspirations and needs in this regard, and will actively pursue the feasibility study with the China Assistance Fund. The two countries will maintain close contact and coordination to jointly work further with a view to building a Trans-Himalayan Multi-Dimensional Connectivity Network. Nepal and China signed the BRI agreement in 2017, which is said to be a flagship project of Chinese President Xi Jinping, but despite this cross-border railway, none of the projects have been selected by Nepal.

China wants to reach India through cross-border line and BRI
China wants to strengthen its reach to India through both these projects. This is an important part of its strategic strategy. According to a 2018 pre-feasibility study, complex geological terrain and laborious engineering workload will be the biggest hurdles in building a cross-border railway line connecting the Chinese border town of Kerung to Kathmandu. The railway line which has to pass through the rugged Himalayan high mountains. Following an agreement signed by then Prime Minister KP Oli during his visit to Beijing in June, the China Railway First Survey and Design Institute conducted a month-long technical study of the proposed 121 km railway from Kathmandu to Kerung.