China’s growing influence in the Indian sub-continent is about to get on track, and quite literally so. The People’s Republic of China has revealed plans about building a 540 km long high-speed rail tunnel between Tibet and Nepal. The highlight of this ambitious route will be a tunnel which will pass through the Mount Everest. When completed, this rail tunnel may as well be the highest in the world.
Weather will be a force to reckon with for Chinese engineers and workers working on this project. The entire route goes through a mountainous terrain. The region experiences mainly sub-zero temperatures and inclement weather conditions during winter. For most part of the year, say nearly six months or so, harsh weather conditions may even stall construction work. The Nepal side of the route experiences similar weather conditions with respite coming only during monsoon.
The proposed rail line will be an extension of the 1,956 km long Qinghai-Tibet line which links China with the Tibetan capital of Lhasa. Rail experts at the Chinese Academy of Engineering have stated that the line will most probably pass through the highest mountain peak in the world. This would mean that workers and designers will have to work on some really long tunnels.
China is looking to access the large-scale Indian market via shorter routes. The Chinese have already suggested a Bangladesh-China-India-Myanmar (BCIM) corridor which wasn’t really entertained by New Delhi. The planned route is aimed at fostering bilateral trade, tourism, and people-to-people exchange. But growing tensions between India and China outline the need for viewing this rail tunnel as a possible strategic threat to New Delhi. Frankly speaking, China will have high-speed underground rail access to India’s most preferred neighbour in the North, once the project is completed. Moreover, the rail project was requested by Kathmandu only.
The Nepal rail project is expected to be completed by 2020. The Chinese authorities are also mulling over the idea of building a similar high-speed rail line which will link the East Asian country to the United States. The proposed tunnel to US will be about 13,000 km long. In addition to this, China is also in talks with Pakistan to build a natural gas pipeline all the way to Iran.
(Featured Image Credits: cnn.com)
