Title - Rail link on Andaman and Nicobar islands

Indian Railways is gearing up to show green signal for the ambitious project of linking Port Blair with Diglipur on Andaman and Nicobar islands. This will bring archipelago on rail map for the first time.

Currently north Andaman Island is linked to south by 350km bus service which takes more than 14 hours to complete the journey. One can also take services of ship but you need to spend a long 24hours on it to ferry self from one point to other. There is no air connectivity available on the islands.

An internal survey report reveals that if railway finalise investment there is still question mark over its commercial viability as this project will give return with a negative rate of -9.64 per cent.

Railway considers a line to be commercially viable if this figure is at least a positive of 12 per cent. In this case though ministry will approve this project owing to its uniqueness and strategic importance.

Also it will give a major boost to tourism in this region.