Jalpaiguri: The Northeast Frontier Railways (NFR) will submit the Final Location Survey (FLS) for railway connectivity from Jalpaiguri’s Banarhat to Bhutan’s Samtse, and Assam’s Kokrajhar to Gelephu in Bhutan by Nov. “The FLS for the rail link between Samtse and Gelephu is expected to be submitted to the Railway Board by Nov. Once the projects are sanctioned, land acquisition and issuing of tender will start,” said Sabyasachi De, CPRO, NFR.
The NFR and the ministry of infrastructure and transport (MoIT) are working on the design of the railway link on the 70-km Kokrajhar-Gelephu cross-border stretch. Similar work is being carried out on the 16-km Banarhat-Samtse stretch. Sources said the NFR has proposed two locations for the termination point in Bhutan, which is under consideration by the Bhutanese govt.
The work on the FLS was initiated in March following an MoU between India and Bhutan, attended by PM Narendra Modi and his Bhutanese counterpart Tshering Tobgay.
The railway link is expected to enhance trade and tourism between the two countries and strengthen bilateral ties. Sources said Bangladesh may use the route through Haldibari-NJP and Haldibari-NJP-Siliguri Junction to ferry goods. This is a part of the proposed BIB (Bhutan-India-Bangladesh) corridor.
India and Bhutan signed an agreement in 2005 to connect the bordering towns of the two countries through a railway link. In 2008, the then PM Manmohan Singh announced the construction of the Nehru Golden Jubilee railway link during his visit to Bhutan to commemorate the 50th anniversary of former PM Jawaharlal Nehru’s visit to Bhutan in 1958.