KOLKATA: The Railways has identified five possible routes to Bhutan. Rail India Technical and Economic Services, entrusted with conducting a feasibility study of the routes, is expected to submit a report by October.

While two of the routes link north Bengal with Bhutan, the rest originate from Assam. The locations have been proposed considering their proximity to the National Highway and the road connectivity between the towns on either side of the border. These places are frequented by the Bhutanese.

The proposed routes from north Bengal are considerably shorter in distance than those from Assam, Trikal Rabha, Chief Public Relations Officer, Northeast Frontier Railways, told The Hindu from Maligaon.

The Indian segment of the network will be within the purview of the Northeast Frontier Railways. Operational modalities are to be worked out between the two countries. The shortest route that connects Banarhat in north Bengal's Jalpaiguri district and Samtse in Bhutan is 16 km long. The one between Hasimara in Jalpaiguri to the Bhutanese border town of Phuntoshiling covers 18 km.

The three routes from Assam are from Kokrajhar to Gelephu (70 km), from Patshala to Nanglam in Bhutan (40 km) and from Rangia to Samdrup Jhonka, through Darranga, on the Assam-Bhutan border (60 km).

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