Survey Completed For Railway Link Between Bhutan's Gelephu and Assam's Kokrajhar

The construction of a railway connection between Bhutan's Gelephu and Kokrajar in Assam will start soon as the survey for the same was recently completed.

Notably, it will be the first-ever railway connection between India and Bhutan and is expected to be completed by 2026. The Indian government will fund the 57-kilometre railway.

Bhutan's Foreign Minister Dr Tandi Dorji said, "We have formed a team that will talk to the Northeastern Frontier (NF) Railways in India and start the work.” He also said that the government will first work on this project and then look into connecting other regions like Samtse, Phuentsholing, Nganglam, and Samdrupjongkhar.

During his visit to Bhutan in 2008, former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh announced the construction of the Nehru Golden Jubilee Railway link to mark the 50th anniversary of former PM Jawaharlal Nehru's visit to Bhutan in 1958.

The 18-kilometre railway was supposed to connect Toribari in Bhutan's Phuentsholing and Hashimara in West Bengal. Tandi said the project could take off since the railway link had to be built through tea states.

"There was an objection from the government of West Bengal,” he added.

Earlier this month, Prime Minister Narendra Modi met with Bhutan King Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck in India and had talks on bilateral cooperation and issues of respective national interests. 

"Pleased to receive His Majesty the King of Bhutan, Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck. We had a warm and productive meeting. Deeply value our close friendship and the vision of successive Druk Gyalpos in guiding India-Bhutan relations to new heights," PM Modi tweeted.

Speaking to reporters after a meeting between PM Modi and the Bhutan King, Foreign Secretary Vinay Mohan Kwatra said, "In terms of specific outcomes, which we would be following up based on the discussions, it was agreed that India would step up its support to Bhutan's upcoming 13th Five Year Plan. The specifics of the support, its distribution into different projects that is something which is to be worked out between the two systems going forward. At Bhutan's request, India would work to extend an additional standby credit facility. This would be over and above the two existing standby credit facilities that is operating between the two countries."

"We would work to shape long-term sustainable arrangements for export of agricultural commodities from Bhutan. Also work to develop long-term bilateral arrangements for assured supply of critical commodities to Bhutan, which would include petroleum, fertilizers, and coal," he added.

Furthermore, the two countries agreed on a range of other initiatives including boosting connectivity with India and working towards expediting the proposed Kokrajhar-Gelephu rail link project, which will be the first rail link between the two countries.

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