Feasibility study of alternative railway line planned
KATHMANDU:
The government has started looking for an alternative railway line to avoid Chitwan National Park (CNP) and Parsa Wildlife Reserve (PWR) in the proposed Mechi-Mahakali Electrified Railway. In this regard, a feasibility study has been planned for 2015.
As per the plan of Department of Railways, it will hire a consultant that will carry out a feasibility study to recommend the best among three alternative alignments. The department recently called expression of interest (EoI) for feasibility study of Nijgadh-Hetauda-Bharatpur railway line, as part of its preparations.
This railway link is one of the alternatives to bypass CNP and PWR to protect the environment and wildlife there and connect Simara. The plan to extend railway alignment across the CNP, a World Heritage Site for long, had been criticised by environmentalists, CNP officials and the Forest Ministry, citing that the plan would have a negative impact on endangered animals like the one-horned rhino.
According to department officials, the interested consulting firms have been asked to submit their EoI within the first week of December. Earlier, the government had conducted detailed project report (DPR) and planned to take the alignment of the railway linking Simara with Tamsariya and it was 127.1 km long. Of the total length of the proposed line, 60 km passed through the CNP, including seven km in the core area.
“The alternative plan of linking Simara through Nijgadh-Hetauda-Bharatpur section will be more expensive as the length will increase by up to 50 km,” said an official at the department. The official added that the government might also have to compromise with the speed limit. The proposed broad-gauge railway network links Mechi in the east to Mahakali of west and has planned speed of 160 km per hour.
For the study of an alternative line, the department has set aside Rs 30 million and aims to complete it by the end of 2015. The DPR of Simara-Tamsariya revealed that the section will require an investment of Rs 120.25 billion for railway network development. The estimated cost had inflated as the plan included development of 51 bridges and total length of the whole section also went up to minimise environmental impacts in the CNP and PWR.
The consultant, a joint venture consisting South Korean — Soosung Engineering, Kunhwa Consulting and Engineering, Korea Rail Network Authority, Korea Transport Institute, Indian firm — International Consulting Technocrats and Nepali Full Bright Consultancy, that prepared the DPR has recommended building 15.2 km bridge for elevated railway in the CNP that also includes core area.
Source: THT
