Rail system for Nepal

http://en.ce.cn/World/Asia-Pacific/2005 ... 4278.shtml

Nepal has a civil war between Maoist rebels and the King's government. There are rumours that this war may be resolved by the rebels becoming political, if the king restores democratic government.

Could the end of the war be marked by investment in a new rail system? One interest, as ever in this part of the world, is what gauge would they use. The Chinese use standard gauge, and they seem to be promoting this network. But India also borders on Nepal, and would probably not want Nepal to fall into the Chinese orbit.

The king apparently wants an electrified line. This is sensible as Nepal has hydroelectricity and would not have to import diesel.

I have spent abit of time trekking in Nepal , and form the necessary bus rides to get around , i would say , Wow , good luck to them !
Unless a lot of tunnelling and / or high wide viaducts are been built , i would say alot of zig zags , spirals or switchbacks would be necessary .
When i was there , the chinese were building roads as an aid project , and i would say the money would come from China rather than India .
Kathmandu has elcectic trolly buses by the way .
There is an excellent sustainable development magazine published in Kathmandu , the name escapes me for the moment .

David Benton wrote:I have spent abit of time trekking in Nepal , and form the necessary bus rides to get around , i would say , Wow , good luck to them !
Unless a lot of tunnelling and / or high wide viaducts are been built , i would say alot of zig zags , spirals or switchbacks would be necessary .
When i was there , the chinese were building roads as an aid project , and i would say the money would come from China rather than India .
Kathmandu has elcectic trolly buses by the way .
There is an excellent sustainable development magazine published in Kathmandu , the name escapes me for the moment .

Well, we shall see. Many of these proposed railways come to nothing. For example, I haven't heard anything more about the grandiose sounding schemes for southern Sudan.

I imagine they would not want to build Swiss type mountain railways, but lines along the valley bottoms. I haven't checked the atlas to see what they might have in mind.

I can't see India allowing Nepal to come under Chinese control. It has always been part of the Indian sphere of interest, back to British times.

Id have to dig my map of nepal out, George , i have a feeling that theres a huge gorge in the west , that goes right through Nepal to China . Perhaps this is where they planning to put the rail line . Kathmandu lies in a valley , surrounded by huge mountains . to anywhere is a climb then drop . i thoguht airships would be the ideal transport system there , but i quess thats abit futuristic still .