Chinese experts have stated that the much touted railway link connecting Nepal with China through the Himalayan highland is ‘economically and technologically feasible’.

A report carried by China Daily on Friday states that China has accumulated technology and experience to build a rail link between the Tibet autonomous region and the South Asian subcontinent.

According to the newspaper, a Himalayan train ride at more than 100 kilometer per hour at the foot of world’s highest snowcapped mountains is no longer just a dream.

"The construction of a railway crossing the Himalayan Mountains is now economically and technologically feasible," Zong Gang, deputy director of the Science and Technology Department at Beijing University of Technology has been quoted as saying.

Gyirong port, lying at the Nepal-China border stands at an altitude of 2,800 meters above the sea level. The Gyirong mountain pass to Nepal lies at around 1,800 meters making the railway geographically feasible. Lhasha and Xigaze, the two major cities of Tibet lying at an altitude of 3,700 meters and 3,800 meters above the sea level respectively already have railway connectivity.

According to the news report, while Nepal hopes that China can connect the port with capital city Kathmandu, for China the railway line will help boost economic, cultural and religious communications with Nepal as part of the Belt and Road initiative proposed by Chinese President Xi Jinping.

Though China has more than 19,000 km of high-speed railways with capacity to travel at a speed of up to 350 km per hour, the railway lone starting from Xigaze in Tibet to a land port in Gyirong will not be a high-speed one. The Xigaze- Gyirong railway line, whose construction is supposed to be completed by 2020, will have speed of 100 km per hour.

In the same news report, Chairman of Tibet Autonomous region government Losang Jamcan, has been stated as saying that building rail links is the most powerful way to help Tibet open up to South Asian countries.

Similarly, Zhou Yuhui, a professor at Beijing Jiaotong University has been quoted as saying, “While bringing tourists and businesses to Gyirong, which will help local people to escape poverty, the China-Nepal railway will also help to make people more willing to integrate into modern life.” Zhou had recently made a field visit to the Nepal-China border.

Former Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli and Chinese Premier Li Keqiang had agreed to cooperate in several areas including transportation sector during the formers official visit to Beijing in March this year.