Recently, Foreign Minister Wang Yi held talks with Nepalese Foreign Minister Khadgar in Kathmandu. Wang Yi stressed that China supports Nepal to more deeply participate in the construction of the Belt and Road Initiative, and is willing to speed up the promotion of key cooperation projects, "especially the promotion of the China-Nepalese cross-border railway project and the construction of a trans-Himalayan three-dimensional interconnection network."

After the talks, the foreign ministers of China and Nepal witnessed the signing of 9 cooperation documents, including the technical assistance plan for the feasibility study of China's aid to Nepal's cross-border railway project, and the seventh meeting between the two sides on strengthening cooperation in the railway sector in January 2022 summary.

The China-Nepal Railway has a total length of 443.8 kilometers. It starts from the Shigatse West Station of the Lari Railway in the east, passes through Saga County to Dingri County in the west, and goes along the Pengqu and Menqu River Valleys to Pekucuo and then crosses the Mala Mountains, a branch of the Himalayas. To Geelong Town, set up a railway port station, then take it to the national border, and reserve the conditions for extending to Kathmandu.

The China-Nepal Railway runs from Pekutso in the south to the Bay of Bengal via Nepal and India, and in the west to Central Asia and Europe via Xinjiang. The China-Nepal Railway will play an important role in building a backbone corridor for interconnection between neighboring countries, building a major trade channel for South Asia, and promoting exchanges between my country and key countries. In the previous pre-feasibility study, the Chinese side said that complex geological conditions are the biggest challenge for the China-Nepal cross-border railway project. According to the pre-feasibility study report, about 98.5% of the project will be bridges or tunnels, and the construction cost is expected to reach 3.55 billion Nepalese rupees (about 29 million US dollars) per kilometer.

In 2017, the Chinese and Nepalese foreign ministers met and proposed a strategic cooperation plan for the construction of China-Nepal cross-border railway. The two sides agreed to actively carry out cooperation in project survey, design, feasibility study, and personnel training. During President Xi’s visit to Nepal in 2019, the two countries agreed to conduct a feasibility study for the project, but it was then shelved due to the pandemic. Keywords: One Belt One Road, One Belt One Road News, One Belt One Road Project

In 2020, China Railway First Research Institute won the bid for the survey and design project of the China-Nepal Railway in China. In January 2022, China and Nepal held an online meeting. The Chinese side stated that the feasibility study of the project will take at least 42 months to complete. The investment amount required for the project will be announced after the completion of the feasibility study. The previous pre-feasibility study report predicted that the cost of the project in Nepal (72.25 kilometers) is about US$2.75 billion.Editor/XuNing