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| India aiding development of international rail corridors | | | NEW DELHI, APR 29
After successfully launching dedicated freight corridors linking four metros, India is now teaming up with neighbouring countries to develop global railway corridors to cut down travel time.
"India is now following a policy of international corridors. In the first step, it is trying to link the railways of India and Myanmar over a distance of 330 km. This will also give us a link between India and Southeast Asian states including China," a top railway ministry source told PTI.
The exercise will cut travelling to one-fourth the time taken by sea route, sources said.
The "eastern international corridor" linking Kohima in in the northeastern state of Nagaland with Myanmar will lead to railway routes connecting India with Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos on one hand and with economically developed southeastern China and Russia on the other.
India is already assisting the railways of Malaysia, Cambodia, Laos and Bangladesh in developing infrastructure for running or connecting inter-state railways to boost their internal traffic and to link them internationally.
On the western side, the sources said, India is counselling Pakistan and others to develop rail links to the Middle East, thus boosting trans-shipment of goods and services in the strategic region. (MORE)
"There have been talks with states in the western region. India will automatically get linked with the railways of the European Union in Turkey via Iran," a source said, adding India has already opened two routes, Wagah-Attari and Munabao-Khokhrapar, in that sector.
India is also helping Iran execute a 600-million dollar rail link project involving the development of Chabahar port and connecting it to the city of Baim.
Iran's comunication ministry and a consortium of Indian companies, consisting of RITES, IRCONS and ALPS, signed an MoU for this a couple of years ago.
The completion of this Iranian project could link India with Turkey and Central Asian states like Kazakhasthan and Uzbeksitan.
On the Bangladesh front, there are currently five rail links with India -- Gede-Darsana, Singhabad-Rohanpur, Petrapole-Benapole (all broad gauge) and Radhikapur-Shahbazar (metre gauge).
New Delhi is understood to have asked Dhaka to allow cargo transit through a rail route linking Kolkata and Agartala through Bangladesh. A railway project between Kolkata and Dhaka has also been announced, the sources said.
Though there are no direct rail links between Kolkata and Agartala, the sources said a rail link would be established between Kumarghat and Agartala by December 2007.
India has already done a feasibility study on the cargo transit issue. This will reduce the cost of cargo transits from Kolkata to the northeastern states to a great extent. India has also offered a 150- million dollar credit line to Bangladesh to develop its railways.
Expected to be fructified in three to five years, the eastern corridor linking Southeast Asian states could become a major trade route for the future, the sources said.
"The Myanmar-China linked eastern corridor is expected to be completed in three to five years. This will further connect to Russia. The Chinese and Russian railways are already working on it. The rail routes will take less than one-fourth of the time taken to reach the region from India by sea," a source said.
Asked to provide details about the western route linking India to Pakistan and Iran and further to Middle Eastern countries, the sources said though Indian Railways is not directly involved it is helping the two other countries and has even identified some routes.
At the request of the Sri Lankan government, India has also agreed to upgrade the Colombo-Matara coast line, sources said. RITES has carried out a feasibility study for the project and submitted a report to the Sri Lankan government for further action.
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