Nepal, July 1 -- On 15 May 2026, the Railways Department issued a notice inviting expressions of interest from international consulting firms to prepare a detailed project report (DPR) for a 27.5 km metro line along the Narayan Gopal Chowk-Koteshwar-Ratna Park loop. This was enough to send social media into a frenzy, with many celebrating the imminent arrival of metro rail in Kathmandu.

A month later, the notice was cancelled, citing "technical reasons". Then, the Minister for Infrastructure Development announced in Parliament a much more ambitious plan: a fresh DPR process for a 150 km metro rail network for the entire Valley.

There is nothing wrong with dreaming big, and one must appreciate the Government's 'Vision 2040' concept to p...