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    How India can benefit from an east-west railway corridor across Nepal

    Synopsis

    The bottom line is that a prestige project like the east-west rail link across Nepal would do infrastructure in India a world of good.

    ET Bureau
    By Jaideep Mishra

    The Modi government needs to boost transport and connectivity, so as to step up sustainable development in the entire region. Specifically, it needs to pitch for an east-west railway corridor across Nepal that would link Kathgodam, Uttarakhand, with Siliguri in Bengal.

    Such a rail linkage would reduce distances to the northeast by up to a third, and lead to manifold benefits right across the board. A trans-Himalayan railway is an idea that needs to be purposefully fast-tracked.

    The project would sustainably boost tourism and trade, including to the northeast. Looking ahead, it would also make viable modular rail investments across the region, from Ladakh to Arunachal Pradesh, and so, would make strategic sense in the border areas sorely lacking in connectivity and linkages.

    Note that the Indo-Nepal statement issued following Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s recent visit to the Himalayan nation does mention of the need to step up transport and infrastructure links.

    There’s mention of the need for a multi-lane motorable bridge across the Mahakali river at Mahendranagar, and the expeditious construction of feeder roads in the Terai region. Nepal has also called for additional air entry including at Janakpur and Nepalgunj, and rail connectivity at all five of the agreed border points and the four integrated check-posts.

    The plans outlined need to be followed through, of course. But an east-west rail line across Nepal would be a huge, 1,300-km project and, if well-designed and properly implemented, can showcase regional cooperation at its best.

    The way ahead for the Modi Cabinet is to get the Sushil Koirala government in Nepal on board for a detailed project report. Or better still, the government may want to ask experts like Rakesh Mohan, who recently submitted a detailed report on transport and investment, to look into the broad feasibility of the east-west rail project, in a time-bound manner.

    Given that rail transport tends to be green and environment-friendly and efficient especially over distances of 1,000 km or so, the project may well provide attractive payback sooner rather than later.

    The rail link should be more attractive and cost-effective option for most road users and air travellers and, so, ought to gain carbon credits as well, for contributing to stemming usage of fossil fuels and the resultant decline in emissions that seem to cause global warming and climate change.

    It should also induce both increased goods and commuter traffic on its own merit and boost employment and change livelihood patterns for the better. The actual alignment of the rail line would naturally need to avoid such ecologically sensitive areas as the Koshi Wildlife Reserve and the Chitawan National Park, and where necessary, also provide for tunnels, elevated tracks and bridges to get the work done.

    A tight project schedule would be key. Otherwise, costs would simply go haywire. The point is that for a big ticket multi-year project estimated to cost upwards of Rs 50,000 crore, it would far too risky to allow cost and time overruns.

    As for financing, it may make sense to seek funding from the proposed Brics bank; that from other multilateral sources could also be considered. The huge potential for high-end rail tourism needs to be gainfully realised.

    An operational trans-Himalayan tourist train service would provide much scope for luxury travel all-year round, and that would be quite a change from, say, the schedule of the Palace on Wheels, which is duly taken out of operation during the Indian summer.

    And while it promises to transform the region with sustainable tourism and travel, the related gains in project implementation and management need to be internalised and diffused to other infrastructure projects in the pipeline pan-India.

    The point also is that the scope for on-the-job learning in project implementation should be immense; as is well known, E Sreedharan was able to acquire and develop requisite skills during the Konkan rail project and was able to use it for the greater good for the Delhi Metro project.

    The bottom line is that a prestige project like the east-west rail link across Nepal would do infrastructure in India a world of good. It would be uplifting indeed with high, long-term impact. Go for it.
    The Economic Times

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