How a new South Asian subregional connectivity taking shape

Far removed from the shadow of India-Bangladesh relations strained since the ouster of Sheikh Hasina in August last year, an outline of South Asian sub-regional connectivity is quietly taking shape that will bind Bangladesh, India, Bhutan and Nepal.  

The proposed connectivity map is building up around two cross-border railway lines covering a distance of 89 kilometres and costing around Rs4,000 crore, which will connect the Indian states of West Bengal and Assam, both sharing borders with Bangladesh, to Bhutan and was unveiled by the Indian government on 29 September this year.

The announcement was made by Indian Minister of Railways Ashwini Vaishnaw and Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri.

Though Thimphu has been eager for railway connectivity with India for a long time, the project is the result of the momentum gained during Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's 2024 visit to Bhutan when it got the required top-level political push.

The railway lines will connect Kokrajhar in Assam to Gelephu in Bhutan, and Banarhat in West Bengal to Samtse also in Bhutan. They are expected to be completed within the next three to four years.

If completed on schedule, the projects would integrate Bhutan into the broader Indian railway network for the first time, offering a new trade route through Assam and West Bengal and further integrating the landlocked nation's connectivity with the rest of South Asia. 

Besides trade, it will facilitate tourism and people-to-people connectivity in the subregion, Indian officials told The Business Standard.

Gelephu Mindfulness City is a project bordering Assam, an initiative under the direct guidance of the King of Bhutan and is envisaged as an economic hub connecting Bhutan with South Asia and Southeast Asia. 

Since it is a flagship initiative of the country, it was only natural for New Delhi to back it. 

Similarly, Samtse, which borders West Bengal, is being developed as an important industrial town in Bhutan for manufacturing and export. These links will be critical for enhancing cargo and passenger movement.

It is in this backdrop that one has to see Bhutanese Prime Minister Dasho Tshering Tobgay's recent visit to Dhaka when he made a strong pitch for linking the Special Economic Zone (SEZ) in Kurigram near the border with India with Gelephu for promoting seamless trade and industrial collaboration between the two countries with India hosting the trade and transit, the officials said.

At present, Bhutan uses India's road network and a portion of its rail network. But with the proposed two projects, Bhutan will, in a way, be connected to the Indian rail network, which means that any exports from Nepal and Bangladesh going to Bhutan will also be able to use this Indian rail connectivity to send their exports to the Himalayan kingdom and to bring its exports to the subregion as a whole.

The Indian foreign secretary, at the time of announcing the two rail links with Bhutan, made it clear that India, Bhutan, Nepal, and Bangladesh have an agreement to use the connectivity under BBIN road network.

He also drove home the point that India already has agreements with both Nepal and Bangladesh under which their exports and imports use Indian territory for transit – to export to each other, and to export to third countries as well. 

But right from day one, Bhutan had strong reservations about BBIN on the ground of environment. Being a tiny Himalayan country, Bhutan's apprehension was that unregulated movement of diesel and petrol-driven vehicles into its territory would endanger its fragile ecology through air pollution.      

On the infrastructure front for trade and cross-border movement of people, India has established integrated checkposts and trade routes, new immigration points as well as digital connectivity. In order to facilitate the movement of third country nationals, an integrated check post was inaugurated at Darranga in Assam in November 2024. 

Bhutan will benefit from the development of the Jogighopha Inland Waterways Transport Terminal in Assam, a project inaugurated in February this year. It will offer Bhutan an opportunity to use the Bangladesh-India inland water route for trade.  

There are three key strategic aspects of India's proposed new rail links with Bhutan, apart from its soft power through development partnership based on Neighbourhood First and Act East policies, the officials said. 

First, it is being seen by Indian officials as a counter to Pakistan's veto at the 18th SAARC summit in November 2014 in Nepal when the member-countries had tabled a proposal for a SAARC Motor Vehicle Agreement. 

A sub-regional approach was adopted by India with Bhutan, Bangladesh and for signing a separate agreement on MVA for the Regulation of Passenger and Cargo Vehicular Traffic (MVA) in 2015. This was seen as the harbinger of India's efforts to leverage the prospects for sub-regional connectivity in the region to expand.

Secondly, the rail links with Bhutan reinforces India's connectivity in its northeastern region, an area of considerable geopolitical significance. Bhutan is the only South Asian country without diplomatic ties with China, making it a crucial partner in India's Himalayan security calculus. 

The proposed rail routes pass near the Siliguri Corridor (Chicken's Neck) which is India's narrow 22km lifeline to the Northeast, enhancing strategic depth and logistical efficiency for both faster civilian and defence movement. In fact, India is already into building a robust defence along the Corridor.

Thirdly, according to the officials, the proposed new rail connectivity with Bhutan reinforces India's Influence amid China's assertiveness in South Asia through its infrastructure diplomacy in the form of Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) under which Beijing seeks to encircle India with projects like Gwadar (Pakistan), Hambantota (Sri Lanka) and Kyaukpyu (Myanmar).