Nepal to get China rail link By Sudha Ramachandran

China has begun building a railway connecting the Tibetan capital of Lhasa with the market town of Khasa on the Sino-Nepal border. The rail link, the latest Chinese initiative to improve its transport infrastructure in the Himalayan region, is expected to enhance Nepal's economic engagement with China and reduce its dependence on India.

The 770-kilometer Lhasa-Khasa railway line is an extension of the world's highest railway, which runs from Golmud in China's Qinghai province to Lhasa. Inaugurated in August 2006, the Golmud-Lhasa rail integrated Tibet into China's national rail network. With its extension up to the Nepal border, Nepal will be plugged into China's rail network.

Besides the Lhasa-Khasa railway, China is said to be considering an extension of the Golmu-Lhasa line up to Xigaze, south of Lhasa and from there to Yatung, a trading center, barely a few kilometers from Nathu La, a mountain pass that connects Tibet with the Indian state of Sikkim. There is a proposal too to extend the line to Nyingchi, an important trading town north of the Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh, at the tri-junction with Myanmar.

Sikkim has only one road - a 56-kilometer single-lane link - linking its capital Gangtok to Nathu La, and one landslide-prone road, just five meters wide, joining the area with the rest of India. Sikkim's road density is 28.45 kilometers per 100 square kilometer against the national average of 84 kilometers. Arunachal Pradesh is even worse off, with a road density of just 18.65 kilometers per 100 square kilometer. Nepal to get China rail link By Sudha Ramachandran