Union minister Ashwini Vaishnav said a plan for underground rail route along the 40 km through the strategic Chicken’s Neck corridor connecting West Bengal and the Northeast India.
This development comes as Bangladesh’s interim leadership under Muhammad Younus, along with several nationalist organizations, has openly spoken of “choking the chicken’s neck” to cut off India’s Northeast.
Siliguri that connects India’s northeast with mainland India is referred to as chicken neck. It is roughly a stretch 20–22 kilometers.
A concern reports follows that, China is aiding Bangladesh in reviving a WWII airbase at Lalmonirhar that is closely located to the Indian border near Siliguri, the defunct airbase which is under the control of Bangladesh Air Force but inactive for decades.
“There is special planning for the 40-km strategic corridor connecting the northeast with the rest of the country.” “Planning are underway to lay underground railway tracks, and also make the existing tracks four-line,” said, Union Minister Vaishnav.
The Northeast Frontier Railway (NFR) General Manager Chetan Kumar Shrivastava and Chief Administrative Officer (Construction), Hitendra Goyal, said “This underground stretch is important from a security point of view,” “When these plans are implemented, it will essentially mean that the strategic corridor will have six lines of railway track – four overground and two underground,” the officials said.
Railways stated a massive infrastructure push is underway in Assam and the Northeast with Rs 72,468 crore worth of railway projects currently in progress. Surveys for new railway lines are being conducted to further expand the network, while rail connectivity to Bhutan from Kokrajhar to Gelephu (69 Km) is being planned. Railway projects in Manipur have resumed and works in Sikkim and Nagaland are also progressing at a fast rate, significantly improving regional and international connectivity.