India, Bhutan to be linked by first rail lines as China's influence grows

NEW DELHI -- The first ever cross-border railway between India and Bhutan is soon to be a reality -- a strategically significant development which comes against the background of China's efforts to expand influence in the landlocked Himalayan nation. India and Bhutan on Sept. 29 signed a pact for the establishment of two rail lines between the neighbors at a total cost of 40.33 billion rupees (about $460 million) -- which will be borne by New Delhi -- with an aim to boost trade and people-to-people linkages. With this, an 89-kilometer railway network will be created, giving Bhutan its first rail network. The rail lines will connect Kokrajhar city in India's Assam state with Bhutan's Gelephu; and Banarhat in West Bengal state with Samtse in the Himalayan kingdom. Gelephu is a planned "mindfulness city", which is set to be a sustainable urban development in the southern plains of Bhutan and a regional economic hub connecting the country with South Asia and Southeast Asia. Samtse is being developed as a key industrial town in Bhutan for manufacturing and export purposes. "This project is basically connecting two very important cities of Bhutan," India's Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw told reporters on the day the two sides signed the agreement. "Samtse and Gelephu, they have very important significance in the way the Bhutanese economic growth is being planned." Construction of the 69 km Kokrajhar-Gelephu line will take about four years, while the 20 km Banarhat-Samtse link will be completed in about three years, the minister said. The announcement follows Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to Bhutan in March last year to shore up ties with the neighboring nation. India is Bhutan's top trading partner and its largest provider of developmental assistance. New Delhi "has played a vital role in [Bhutan's] modernization, especially in the areas of infrastructure and the overall economic development of the country," India's Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri said. India has committed 100 billion rupees for Bhutan's ongoing five-year economic development plan until 2029. "These [rail] links that are being worked on will be critical for enhancing cargo and passenger movement," he added. Analysts feel such projects also have China in mind, given the Communist nation's attempts to enhance its influence in the region. China has long-running boundary disputes with both India and Bhutan -- which is a tiny Himalayan kingdom nestled between the two nuclear-armed Asian giants -- and has ramped up efforts to develop infrastructure in Tibet close to its border with India and Bhutan. "Any project that enhances connectivity between India and Bhutan is very desirable from India's point of view because here is a country which is dependent on India for security and yet we have seen how gradually it is also moving into the Chinese orbit," Harsh V. Pant, vice president at the Observer Research Foundation, told Nikkei Asia. He was referring to reports about Bhutan's willingness to finalize its long-disputed border with China even though India has reservations on the issue, and a sentiment in the Himalayan nation that there is a need to balance its ties with India and China. "From that perspective, the Chinese role, the Chinese ability to shape Bhutan's foreign policy, domestic policy has been growing over the years despite Bhutan being India's closest partner in South Asia. So, connectivity with a neighbor like Bhutan is not simply an economic requirement, it is also a strategic necessity for India," he said. China and Bhutan -- which do not have formal diplomatic ties -- have held multiple rounds of boundary talks, which had stalled for some time after a 73-day military standoff in 2017 between India and China over the Doklam Plateau, where the boundaries of the two Asian giants and Bhutan meet. Close to Doklam -- which is claimed by both Bhutan and China, with New Delhi supporting Thimphu in the dispute -- is India's Siliguri Corridor, a narrow strip of land also known as the Chicken's Neck, which connects northeastern Indian states with the rest of the country. According to Vijay Kranti, chairman of the Centre for Himalayan Asia Studies and Engagement, China has been "working desperately to bring its railway system right up to the Indian borders for many years, [which] becomes an issue of regional security." "India has always been worried about China's expansion," he told Nikkei, observing that a railway network connecting India with Bhutan will ensure security for both by creating an infrastructure "which will play an important role in case of any trouble for Bhutan from the Chinese side." He also pointed to China's attempts to establish diplomatic relations with Bhutan. "China has been [trying to] encircle India from every direction," Kranti said, pointing to Beijing's strategic investments in India's neighboring countries like Nepal, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Pakistan. Analysts, however, also say that India under Modi's leadership has been actively taking steps to counter the Chinese efforts in this direction. "It is only in the last decade that we have seen border infrastructure being upgraded, connectivity projects being delineated, there is an amount of accountability with respect to [timelines] and resources, which was not there before," Pant of the ORF said.