The Northeast Frontier Railway (NFR) will build a toy train’ in the picturesque hilltop town of Tawang, home to the world’s biggest Buddhist monastery outside Tibet.
Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Pema Khandu gave his nod to the project proposal during his meeting with NFR general manager Anshul Gupta on Thursday morning, a statement issued by Khandu’s office said.
The toy train will be an added attraction in the tourist spot of Tawang, situated at an elevation of approximately 3,048 metres in western Arunachal Pradesh, and 448 km from state capital Itanagar and close to Indo-China border.
Tawang, where the current Dalai Lama rested for a few days after his escape from Tibet in 1959, fell to Chinese troops briefly in the 1962 war between India and China and is considered a strategic town, which China still claims is part of Tibet and thus part of Beijing’s domain.
The project envisages a tourist-centric toy train service in and around Tawang township that would include a park with facilities like food centres and craft bazaar.
The proposal is for a train that would have at least three bogies with a passenger capacity of about 12 in each. The train will run only in the town.
Gupta said that if the state government gives a green signal to it, the NF Railway would start the ground work immediately.
Khandu welcomed the proposal and suggested the NFR officials to coordinate with the district administration for logistical support and assured coordination from the state government, the release said.
A team of NFR officials and engineers is set to visit Tawang next week for a joint survey and finalisation of the project with the district administration.
Gupta assured that once everything is settled, NFR will complete the project within six months.
The NF Railway is already in the process of constructing a broad gauge railway line from Bhalukpong in the foothills to Tawang covering a distance of 378 km, of which about 80 per cent will pass through tunnels.