The railway line from Bhalukpong to Tawang will be 198 km. (Representational)
India's bid to take trains to Arunachal Pradesh's Tawang district at a height of 10,000 ft is inching closer to reality with the laying of foundation stone of North east frontier railways camp office and rest house on Friday.
"We are very soon going to connect Tawang with railways," General Manager Northeast Frontier Railway Construction, Nilesh Kishore Prasad, said.
He said the railway line from Bhalukpong to Tawang will be 198 km, out of which 177 km will be under tunnels with very little disturbance to the ecology.
Mr Kumar said the proposed railway tunnel crossing Dzela pass will be 27 km and is one of the longest tunnels in the country.
Bhalukpong is the entry point on the road to Tawang at 10,000 feet about 290 km away.
Tawang is also connected by a helicopter service, but unpredictable weather often leads to cancellation of flights.
"It was a distant dream for us to have Tawang connected with railways, but now the dreams are going to be achieved in reality," Extra Assistant Commissioner Tawang, Choiki Dondup said.