On August 10, China announced that within a year it will start a feasibility study for the ambitious Tibet-Nepal Railway project. The announcement, which came during Nepal foreign minister Narayan Khadka’s visit to China, also revealed that China will pay for the study. The proposed 170-kilometre railway, part of the Belt and Road Initiative, will link Kerung in southern Tibet to Nepal’s capital Kathmandu, entering Nepal in Rasuwa district. The plan is to eventually extend the railway to India. People familiar with the matter told The Third Pole that building the railway from Kerung to Kathmandu would cost about 38...