China schemes to dig railway tunnel under Everest

Delhi: China is planning to burrow deep below Mount Everest to build a new rail link to Nepal, which could one day make train travel between Calcutta and Beijing a possibility.

A railway line already runs from Xining in central China as far as Tibet. But Chinese officials said that Nepal had asked for the route to be extended up to the border and on to Kathmandu.

Reports in Kathmandu suggested the proposed line could then continue to Lumbini, a World Heritage Site, passing under Everest to get there.