But when we don't realize it, "infrastructure maniac" is no longer satisfied with ordinary bridge building and road building. What we want to build is a railway that can lead to the whole world.

In the railways that we extend all over the world,

Undoubtedly, the China Nepal railway is the most special one among them. It is not only because it needs to cut through the Himalayas to build a railway, but also because the China Nepal railway has not been completed, which has already made India "unable to sit down".

Nepal between China and India

Nepal is really a small country. As a land locked country in South Asia, Nepal has only two neighboring countries, namely India and China. Geographically speaking, Nepal borders India on three sides and China on the other. However, in terms of current national relations, Nepal seems to be closer to China.

In history, in 1792

The battle of Gurkha

After that, Nepal became a vassal state to the Qing Dynasty. However, it was not long before, in 1814, Nepal was invaded by Britain, and was forced to cede a large area of territory to British India at that time. Since then, Nepal began a long-term resistance struggle.

Finally, it drove away the British and made Britain recognize Nepal's independence. India, its neighbor, began to feel uneasy again. India, as a big country in South Asia, is relying on China

"Non Violence and non cooperation" movement

After gaining independence, he "naturally" thought that he could inherit British rights in South Asia, and also wanted to "rule" neighboring countries, including Nepal and Sikkim at that time.

This seems to be "taken for granted" in India, but it is a kind of "oppression" in Nepal, but it is difficult for Nepal to resist. Because Nepal is surrounded by India on three sides, and the only side bordering China is Nepal

The Himalayas,

Although the Himalayas on the Nepalese side have a gentle slope, it's only good for climbers

Mount qomolama

. For Nepal, apart from increasing a little "tourism" income, there is not much benefit.

As a result, Nepal's supply, foreign trade, transportation facilities, and even everything in Nepal are almost controlled by India. Once India blockades Nepal, Nepal has almost no power to fight back.

Although Nepal once had disputes with China over the Himalayas, the times are changing. Today, India's hegemonic thinking in South Asia is growing, threatening neighboring small countries, and the relationship between Nepal and India has always been in a very tense state,

In this case, if Nepal wants to continue to develop its social economy, it has only one choice, that is, to turn to China.

For example, in 2015, India banned the transportation of oil to Nepal, causing Nepal to almost run out of oil. Both economic development and people's lives were in crisis. In an emergency, Nepal had to ask China for help.

At that time, the oil that China supported Nepal was transported to Nepal through the China Nepal highway, which alleviated their crisis. However, the highway transportation time was long and the traffic volume was low. Nepal always felt that it was not safe, so they began to hope for a China Nepal railway with larger traffic volume to support their development.

Since then, China's economic development has been accelerating. For Nepal, as long as it can get close to China's "thigh", even if it can't become a more developed country in a single leap, it is certain to promote economic development. Nepal will become more pro China and finally agree to cooperate with China to build a Sino Nepal railway.

As

Extension of Qinghai Tibet railway branch line

The railway will be built from Shigatse to Jilong on the border between China and Nepal, and will extend to Kathmandu, the capital of Nepal,

After becoming the China Nepal highway, it has become a more important traffic artery between China and Nepal.

A railway to be built through the Himalayas

Although China and Nepal are adjacent, they are separated by a Himalayan mountain after all. It is more difficult to build a railway than the Qinghai Tibet railway.

First of all, because of the influence of water vapor in the Indian Ocean, there is abundant rainfall in the southern foot of the Himalayas, but because of the barrier of high mountains, water vapor can not cross the Himalayas, so the northern foot of the Himalayas is a wasteland. No one has ever met or determined what kind of impact this complex terrain will have on the railway. Therefore, no matter the way of construction or the route of travel, it needs to be improved A lot of preliminary investigation and research.

Secondly, as we all know,

The Himalayas is originally formed by plate extrusion, and so far the two plates are still squeezing each other, so the frequent occurrence of geological disasters such as earthquakes, debris flows, landslides and so on will inevitably have a serious impact on the construction and operation of the railway, which is also a problem we need to solve and overcome.

Thirdly, the gap between the Qinghai Tibet Plateau and Kathmandu has reached 2600 meters, and railway engineers will face great challenges and many problems.

The engineers and workers who build the railway will also face many tests, such as altitude reaction, in order to finally complete this great project.

Finally, what is more difficult is that the China Nepal railway needs to cross the Himalayas, that is to say,

To build this railway, we need to cut through the Himalayas and lay tunnels. The China Nepal railway will pass through nearly 110 Himalayas, with a length of more than 7350 meters. The construction is not very difficult.

Qinghai Tibet railway has been called "Tianlu". Can we build China Nepal railway? Certainly.

In the past, the development of Tibet was slow and the infrastructure capacity was not strong enough. It may be unrealistic to build the China Nepal railway, but now we have completed it

Qinghai Tibet railway, Sichuan Tibet Railway

It is also in progress,

During this period, we have accumulated rich plateau railway construction experience.

Moreover, our infrastructure capacity has changed dramatically. Now we have not only "black technology" such as shield machines and rail row erection vehicles, but also shield machines specially made for alpine tunnels, whose excavation diameter can reach 15 meters, greatly reducing the difficulty of tunnel excavation. For us, the construction of China Nepal railway will only succeed, not fail.

China Nepal railway is planned to start from Shigatse to Jilong port on the border between China and Nepal and extend to Kathmandu, the capital of Nepal. Chinese railway design standards are adopted in the whole process, with a total investment of 8 billion US dollars.

Among them, China is responsible for the construction of 540 km from Shigatse to Jilong, while Nepal is only responsible for the construction of less than 100 km from the border between China and Nepal to Kathmandu,

In this way, Nepal can afford it, and we can get what we want: Nepal's undeveloped market.

However, at present, it seems that it is neither the harsh geographical climate nor the underdeveloped science and technology that hinders the construction of the railway between China and Nepal, but rather the poor environment

Resistance from India

.

Untapped market and uneasy India

As mentioned above, India has always wanted to dominate in South Asia, and has always threatened - or really started - to cut off oil, natural gas and other supplies to Nepal, so as to take advantage of Nepal

Once the China Nepal railway is completed, it is impossible for India to "cut off supply" to Nepal, and India's control over Nepal will be greatly weakened.

By making good relations with China, Nepal can get rid of India's dominant position in its foreign trade and gain more economic initiative.

Once the China Nepal railway is completed, Nepal's foreign trade can be transported by railway, which will greatly increase the traffic volume and reduce the transportation cost, so that Nepal's economy can get better development, and Nepal will completely break away from India's control and become a truly "independent" country.

In addition,

One belt, one road, China's one belt, one road transport development strategy, will be an important part of China's transportation development strategy. It will definitely contribute to the "one belt and one way" initiative and will also bring about more economic growth in other countries and regions.

Of course, India does not want to see this. Therefore, after the signing of the China Nepal railway agreement, India really began to be unable to sit still, and tried to obstruct the construction of the China Nepal railway by cutting off water, electricity and oil. However, the construction of China Nepal railway is not that India will stop if it says to stop it, because China and Nepal can get more from it than we think.

For Nepal, the benefits are obvious. In addition to helping Nepal get rid of India's control, China Nepal railway will greatly increase the trade volume between China and Nepal, enabling Nepal to benefit from China's rapid economic development.

In addition, the construction and opening of the China Nepal railway can also promote the development of tourism in Nepal, so that more Chinese Buddhists can go to the birthplace of the Buddha

lumbini 

"Pilgrimage" will promote Nepal's economic development and open up a new path for Nepal to solve the employment problem.

On the surface, China needs to invest a lot of money, manpower and material resources to build a cross-border railway. Compared with Nepal, Nepal's contribution is negligible and seems to be our loss. But in fact, we still have a lot to gain.

first,

One belt, one road, one belt, one road, will be the first to enter the South Asia region. If we can not build the Sino Nepal railway and help Nepal get rid of India's control, the "one belt and one way" initiative will be difficult to carry out in South Asia. We will hardly be able to cut the "big cake" of 1 billion 800 million people in South Asia. This will also affect our country's implementation of "one" in other parts of the world. "Leading the way" initiative.

secondly,

Nepal is an undeveloped market with huge potential.

Although Nepal is a small country, under the constant pressure of India, its domestic economic development and infrastructure construction are very backward.

Friends who have been to Nepal know that although Nepal is a "holy land" for Buddhist pilgrimage, its tourism experience is not very good. Its transportation facilities and tourism facilities are not perfect, and its domestic industrial and agricultural level is also very weak.

In Nepal, there is no complete fertilizer production line, hybrid rice seed supply, chemical fiber manufacturing industry, mining industry and processing industry. They can hardly do anything by themselves. what's more,

Nepal is rich in oil and mineral resources. What they lack is the ability to exploit and process. As it happens, we all have what Nepal lacks.

For us, Nepal is a completely untapped market with huge development potential and many places to make money. The competitive advantage of Chinese enterprises after entering the Nepal market can be said to be "monopolistic", which is almost self-evident for us.

Finally, the construction of China Nepal railway is conducive to the implementation of Chinese standards.

China Nepal railway will be built according to Chinese standards, and this railway is to be built to Kathmandu. So do other railways in Nepal need to be built according to Chinese standards and connect with Kathmandu? The answer is obvious.

After Nepal implements Chinese standards, of course, we can extend our own standards to more countries, which is greatly conducive to expanding China's global influence.

Although not all of these benefits are "naked" monetary benefits, there is no doubt that for a big country like us committed to the great rejuvenation, expanding its global influence and voice is far more important than economic benefits.