China–India Railway or Sino Indian Railway () are a number of planned railways between China and India: * Shigatse-Yadong-Sikkim line: Most advanced in implementation, technically not entering India yet still bearing the name, 460 km standard gauge 120-160 km/h railway to link Yadong on Indo-Chinese border with current railhead

Shigatse Railway Station Shigatse railway station (), officially Xigazê, is a railway station in Shigatse, Tibet Autonomous Region, China. It lies in Jiacuoxiong Township, Samzhubzê District. The station officially opened for operations on 16 August 2014. Track layou ...

, Tibet, and possibly onward with break of gauge (

broad gauge A broad-gauge railway is a railway with a track gauge (the distance between the rails) broader than the used by standard-gauge railways. Broad gauge of , more known as Russian gauge, is the dominant track gauge in former Soviet Union countries ...

) and continuing to Sikkim and beyond, subject to the India-China geopolitics. Trans-shipment land ports are proposed. This line may share a good part of its routing with China-Nepal railway towards Gyirong and

Kathmandu Kathmandu () is the capital and largest city of Nepal, situated in the central part of the country within the Kathmandu Valley. As per the 2021 Nepal census, it has a population of 845,767 residing in 105,649 households, with approximately 4 mi ...

. Following 2020 China–India skirmishes, China seems keen to hasten Tibet rail projects. The Indian government is constructing the

Sivok–Rangpo line Sivok-Rangpo Railway Line, a 44.96 km long 5 ft 6 in gauge railway, broad gauge line connecting the Indian states of West Bengal (Sivok railway station on New Jalpaiguri–Alipurduar–Samuktala Road line near Siliguri in Darjeeling district) and ...

which will be extended up to the border till

Nathu La Nathu La(, Sikkimese language, Sikkimese: རྣ་ཐོས་ལ་) is a mountain pass in the Dongkya Range of the Himalayas between China's Yadong County in Tibet, and the Indian states of Sikkim. But minor touch of Bengal in South Asia. T ...

. * Kunming-Ruili-Myitkyina-Ledo line: A separate line would begin in

Kunming Kunming is the capital and largest city of the province of Yunnan in China. The political, economic, communications and cultural centre of the province, Kunming is also the seat of the provincial government. During World War II, Kunming was a Ch ...

in China, through Ruili and

Myitkyina Myitkyina (, ; Jingpho language, Jinghpaw: ''Myitkyina'', ; , ''Sèna'') is the capital city of Kachin State in Myanmar (Burma), located from Yangon, and from Mandalay. In Burmese language, Burmese it means "near the big river", and Myitkyina i ...

in Myanmar, and end in Ledo in India. The 160 km/h standard gauge Kunmin- Ruili Station section, called Dali–Ruili railway, was under-construction in 2024. While it's extension to India is yet to be formally approved. Myanmar has expressed interest to extend a spur from Ruili to

Mandalay Mandalay is the second-largest city in Myanmar, after Yangon. It is located on the east bank of the Irrawaddy River, 631 km (392 mi) north of Yangon. In 2014, the city had a population of 1,225,553. Mandalay was founded in 1857 by Ki ...

. * Few more abstract proposals for rail tracks for high speed trains between China and India have been proposed without feasibility study.

References

Rail transport in China Rail transport in Tibet Mountain railways China–India relations Rail transport in India Rail transport in Arunachal Pradesh Rail transport in Assam Rail transport in West Bengal {{Asia-rail-transport-stub

See also

References