On Monday, India announced the plans of building the first two cross-border railway corridors with Bhutan, and this will cost a sum of 4,033 crore. The decision will focus on enhancing the linkage among the region, improving trade as well as economic integration between the two countries. However, Railways Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw and Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri presented the projects in a media briefing.
The Bhutanese cities of Gelephu and Samtse will be linked with Kokrajhar in Assam and Banarhat in West Bengal respectively through the proposed rail links. The two will make up about 90km and will be finished in the coming four years. Gelephu, which hosts an autonomous economic centre with separate administrative authority, is projected to be a major trading and industrial centre in Bhutan. In the same vein, Samtse is being established as an industrial center to support the regional trading.
Such new rail links will give Bhutan a direct entry point into the extensive Indian rail network, and facilitate the easier movement of products to Indian ports and to third countries like Nepal and Bangladesh. According to the officials, the projects are also a strategic reaction by India to the increasing regional railway programs of China.
Having a distance of approximately 70km, six stations and approximately 100 bridges, Kokrajhar-Gelephu line will be, whereas the Banarhat-Samtse line will have a length of about 20km with two station and 25 bridges. Both the lines will serve passenger and freight both, and will have highly advanced signalling systems that can accommodate electrified trains of the Vande Bharat.
The Indian portions will be funded by the Indian Railways Ministry and the Bhutanese parts will be funded by India over the 10,000 crore allocation of Bhutan in the 13th Five-Year Plan (2024-2029). Work, even land acquisition, will commence soon. The two countries will also come up with integrated check posts (ICPs) and security infrastructures along the border to facilitate smooth activities and effective cross-border flow.
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