India To Provide First-Ever Broad Gauge Rail Link To Bhutan

After Bangladesh and Nepal, India will provide rail connectivity to Bhutan. The first-ever broad gauge line will come up from India to Bhutan at an estimated cost of Rs 1,000 crore.

The cross-border rail link is slated to be established between India and Bhutan as Indian Railways has undertaken an elaborate exercise to construct a broad gauge line from Kokrajhar in India to Gelephu in Bhutan. The 57.5 km-long Kokrajhar-Gelephu rail link is expected to serve the long need of rail connectivity between the two neighbouring countries.

Northeast Frontier Railway has been asked to conduct the preliminary engineering and traffic survey (PETS) for the new rail link project between Kokrajhar and Gelephu.

Bhutan and India had signed a memorandum of understanding to connect Bhutan with the Indian Railways network on 25 January 2005.

Recently, India launched three train services to Bangladesh to cater to the growing demand of passengers from both sides.

According to the Railways, there is a big demand for train service between India and Bhutan.

With the survey slated to commence shortly, the first rail link with Bhutan seems to be coming to reality now, and soon travelling between India and Bhutan will be possible on trains.