India announces two Rs 4,000 crore cross-border rail links with Bhutan

 

 

INDIA on Monday announced its joint plan with Bhutan to implement two cross-border rail links of total 89-km length with Bhutanese cities of Samtse and Gelephu at a cost of more than Rs 4,000 crore. The details of the initiative were made public by Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw and Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri at a media briefing. The two Governments have agreed to establish two cross-border rail links to connect Banarhat (West Bengal) to Samtse and Kokrajhar (Assam) with Gelephu, Misri said.

 

“India and Bhutan share a relationship of exceptional trust, mutual respect and understanding,” he said. The agreement for setting up of the rail links was signed during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Bhutan last year. Vaishnaw said the projects will take off from the network of Indian Railways. The investment envisaged at this point is about Rs 4,033 crore, he said. “India is the largest trading partner of Bhutan and most of the EXIM trade of Bhutan is done through Indian ports. Therefore it becomes very important to have good, seamless rail connectivity for the Bhutanese economy to grow and for the people to have better ways of access to the global network.

 

That’s why this entire project has been taken up,” he added. While Samtse has big industrial potential, Gelephu is a new city which is getting developed. Providing details of the first 69-km-long line between Kokrajhar and Gelephu, Vaishnaw said that there will be six stations between the two cities and the construction of the complete line will involve two important bridges, two viaducts, 29 major bridges, 65 minor bridges, two goodsheds, one road-over-bridge (ROB) and 39 road-under-bridges (RUBs).