KATHMANDU, Oct 1: The government is all set to begin work on the east-west railway project, possibly alongside the Mahendra Highway, with a feasibility study worth Rs 90 million.

The Ministry for Physical Planning and Works has recently qualified Rights India Limited from India to take up one year long feasibility study that, according to officials, will begin within two weeks.

While it is clear that the construction of the railway track might take years and billions, the government now tends to outline it as the long-time development plan of the nation. It is one of the two major developmental ventures announced by the government through the budget for the fiscal 2066\67.

Rights India Limited, which was selected from among four foreign companies fighting for the bid, is also supposed to conduct a feasibility study of the two mid-hill linkages of the railway to Kathmandu and Pokhara respectively.

According to Tulsi Prasad Sitaula, chief of the works section at the Ministry, the feasibility study will offer a total spectrum of the project including the budget, environmental impacts and economic requirements.

A study by the ministry shows that some 4000 vehicles ply along the Mahendra Highway that links the eastern towns to the far western city of Mahendranagar. “To operate a railway service of that magnitude, the current ration of transportation load is not enough,” Sitaula said. He added that the concept of the two mid-hills linkages stands in view of supplying sufficient load to the railway.

The mid-hills linkages, however, only appears to be a pipe-dream as track-building in the rough terrain is a very difficult job, said officials. “Maximum underground construction would be required to connect Kathmandu and Pokhara to the Tarai with a railway track. Let´s imagine the labyrinth of tunnels and the cost!" they said.

After the government announced a global tender for the feasibility study of the project some months ago, 19 different foreign companies initially applied out of which four companies, including two from America were short-listed. "The Indian company was finally selected as it offered a bonus advantage of its pertinent experience in the Indian sub-continent," Sitaula said