Russia has shown a positive gesture to build metro rail in the Kathmandu Valley.

A Russian delegation, during a meeting with Minister for Physical Infrastructure and Transport Minister Prakash Jwala at his office on Monday, said that the Russian railway company is ready to build metro rail in the Kathmandu Valley.

Arjun Thapa, joint secretary of the ministry, said that the team of the embassy led by Russian ambassador to Nepal, Aleksei Novikov, has also asked them to come up with a concrete proposal for the construction of the metro rail.

Russia's Moscow Metro Rail is considered famous in the world. With the help of Russia, many countries of the world are operating metro trains. Russian metro trains are operating in some cities of neighboring India.

Speaker of the Russian Parliament Vyacheslav Viktorovich Volodin is visiting Nepal in the near future. Minister Jwala's Secretariat informed that the Russian team visited the Ministry of Physical Infrastructure ahead of Volodin’s visit to discuss issues related to cooperation in transport sector including the construction of the metro rail, East-West Railway and physical infrastructure. Joint Secretary Thapa said that the team from the Russian Embassy discussed about metro rail, road, tunnel and east-west railway with Minister Jwala.

During the discussion, Minister Jwala proposed to build a metro train to be operated in the Kathmandu Valley.

"Metro train, east-west railway, tunnels and other issues were also discussed," said Keshav Kumar Sharma, secretary of the ministry. The Russian side has requested for a concrete proposal for it, added Sharma.

Similarly, the Russian authorities have also shown interest in the Pokhara-Ridi road.

During the discussion, Minister Jwala said that hundreds of Nepalese engineers have received training and education from Russia and their skills have helped Nepal.

Although the discussion of operating metro rail in Kathmandu Valley has been going on for a long time, the issue of construction is yet to be finalized.

The Department of Railways had studied the feasibility of five different metro routes in the valley in 2012 with the help of Chinese consultants. These routes include 22 km Chobhar-Satdobato-Ratnapark-Narayangopal Chowk-Budhanilkanth, 11.15 km Kirtipur-Kalimati-New Baneshwar-Airport, 28.53 km Koteshwar-Chabahil-Swayambhu-Koteshwar, 11.70 km Swayambhu-Dillibazar-Buddha and 13.8 km Dhobighat-Singhdarbar-Naxal-Gongbu routes.

The department says that no further work has been done after the feasibility study. In the first phase, the department planned to proceed with the detailed project report (DPR) of Chobhar-Satdobato-Ratnapark-Narayangopal Chowk-Budhanilkanth route.

Officials of the department say that although metro rail can be built both above and below the ground, the work has not progressed due to lack of a concrete decision on the matter of construction. The total length of the five routes that have been studied is 87.18 kilometers. A preliminary study estimated that an investment of Rs 547 billion would be required to operate metro rail on all five routes.

Urban infrastructure expert Kishore Thapa says that operation of metro rail is necessary in the valley in terms of population, but the country does not have capacity, investment and technology to build such railway.

Another infrastructure expert, Tulsi Sitaula, says that raising funds will be a challenge for Nepal as a large amount of money is needed for the metro rail project. Russia has shown interest in building metro rail in this background, which many consider to be a positive gesture.