| Historic Whooshing Next-Door-- to the North
Wake up, Nepal! A train is passing by your northern border. This is no ordinary train. Chinese President Hu Jintao today opened the world's most elevated railway from Golmud to Lhasa. Mao had confided to King Birendra in 1973 that he would not be able to sleep without constructing this railway. After 33 years, his dream has been fulfilled. Tibet is no longer a “remote” place. The USD 4.1 billion Qinghai-Tibet railway is 1,956 kilometers long. The construction started on June 29, 2001 even as civil war began to intensify in Nepal. The railway is sure to tranform Nepal's neighborhood. Before the train left, Hu said the project is not only a magnificent feat in China's history of railway construction, but is also a great miracle of the world's railroad history. Shouldn't Nepal now create its own history by focusing on major development efforts? How long will we continue to miss the train?
• Train to the Roof of the World, Wired News
• Gormo - Lhasa railway: An unparallel track to invasion, Phayul
• High-tech features first Tibetan railway, People's Daily
• China completes railway to Tibet, BBC
Comments
It's ironic that we have not beeen able to learn anything from the Chinese. Even Mao's so called Nepali comrades are India-oriented.
Posted by: Bikram | July 6, 2006 07:06 PM
A trans-Himalayan railway that passes through Nepal and connects China and India would tranform the whole region. The new government must think about this seriously.
Also, what happened to that idea of the Asian Highway. Both projects could help developing countries like Nepal.
Posted by: Rajesh | July 6, 2006 07:09 PM