The Northeast Frontier Railway (NFR) has completed the final location survey and the detailed project report to set up the first-ever railway link to the neighbouring country of Bhutan.
Sources in the NFR said the survey and the report had been submitted to the railway ministry for approval so that tracks could be laid from Kokrajhar in Assam to Gelephu, a town in Bhutan on the border with Assam.
“It is an important railway project to include Bhutan in the global railway map. A railway line to Bhutan will boost its trans-border trade and provide an alternative mode of communication to people of the country and those travelling to the Himalayan nation,” said a railway official.
According to him, railway minister Ashwini Vaishnaw, while attending a business summit in Assam last week, had elaborated on the project.
According to the plan, the 69.04km-long route will start at the Kokrajhar station in Assam and end at Gelephu. The estimated cost of the project is around ₹3,500 crore.
“The network will have stations at six places — Balajan, Garubhasa, Runikhata, Shantipur, Dadgiri (all in Assam), and Gelephu. The project will have two important bridges, 29 major bridges, 65 minor bridges, a road over-bridge, 39 road under-bridges and two viaducts of 11-metre length,” the official said.
New train
The railways have announced a new weekly train to connect north Bengal with Calcutta. The train will run between Jalpaiguri Road and Sealdah stations via New Jalpaiguri and Malda Town.
The train will leave Sealdah at 11.40pm every Friday to reach Jalpaiguri Road at 12.15pm the following day.
On Saturdays, the train will leave the Jalpaiguri Road station at 8.30pm and reach Sealdah at 8am on Sundays. It will have 16 AC-III coaches, a pantry car and two luggage vans.
Jayanta Roy, the BJP MP of Jalpaiguri, welcomed the decision. “This is yet another new train service that will benefit the people of Jalpaiguri and surrounding areas. I will approach the railway authorities so that instead of 16 AC-III coaches, some sleeper and general compartments are added to the train,” he said.
