Kathmandu, March 11:

The United Nation Economic and Social Commission for Asia and Pacific (UNESCAP) is working to translate the Trans-Asian Railway (TAR) into reality.

Recently, the Bangkok-based UN body sent a reminder to Nepal, among other nations, to ratify the TAR agreement signed by 17 nations, including Nepal, in Busan, South Korea on November 11, 2006.

Minister of Physical Planning and Construction, Gopal Man Shrestha, had signed on behalf of Nepal.

The agreement, once ratified by the UNESCAP member nations, will set the pace for further groundwork on the project which, once implemented and finally commissioned on mid-long term basis, will connect South East Asia and Asia to Europe at three different points.

“Correspondence has taken place. The cabinet will endorse the TAR agreement soon and complete the formality,” Kamal Raj Pandey, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Physical Planning and Constrution, told The Himalayan Times.

One of the three routes, which emanates in Kunming in China will snake through Myanmar, Bangladesh before hitting Nepal at Raxaul via Kolkata.

Trains will enter into India at Gede and exit at Attarai before hurtling to Kapikule of Bulgaria as the last stop.

Routes marked as “international” across all member nations will be free to agreed trans-continental movement of both goods and passengers.

Since railhead at Raxaul will be connected to international network, the Internal Container Depot (ICD) will be the main artery of the Nepali trade and passenger movement to countries from China to Bulgaria. “The project, which goes back to 1960 and is being chased vigorously since 1992, comes as a boon to landlocked nations like Nepal. Benefit come in the form of ability to trade with any nation beginning with Pakistan in the west and Bangladesh in the east,” Pandey said while shedding light on the benefits for Nepal.

A study says the combined route could together add up to 80,000 km, serving 28 countries from eastern Pacific seaboard to the gateway of Europe and Africa, thus reorienting both movement of goods and tourists. The UNESCAP member-nations, which have not yet signed the agreement, have until December 31, 2007 to join and ratify the agreement.

Expected to replace maritime traffic TAR is being taken as a crucial vehicle for landlocked countries “whose access to world markets is heavily dependent on efficient links to the region’s main international ports.” Twelve of the world’s 30 landlocked countries are in Asia, and 10 are TAR members.