North Eastern Railway Connectivity Project
North Eastern Railway Connectivity Project is an multi phased railway connectivity project in Northeast India which comprises states of Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland and Tripura and it also includes the state of Sikkim. These states come under Northeast Frontier Railway Zone of Indian Railways. This Railway project is considered as strategically important for India because it connects all the border states in this region and also close to ASEAN countries.
The Government of India has planned and projected to connect all 8 capitals of North Eastern states by 2030est. As of September 2025, 4 state capitals of Northeast India are connected with railways Currently the three state capitals Agartala in Tripura, Guwahati in Assam, Itanagar in Arunachal Pradesh, and Aizawl in Mizoram state are linked with railways; the rail projects to connect remaining 4 state capitals of Sikkim, Nagaland, Manipur and Meghalaya states are underway.
Background
The Northeast region is a strategically important area to counter China. These state are connected to India through the very narrow area of Siliguri Corridor. After China's claims over the Doklam area of Bhutan and India, it has become important for India to boost connectivity in this region.The project PM Gati Shakti aims to boost connectivity across the country and to connect all the capitals of Indian states. Especially this region is considered as Gateway to Southeast Asia. Thus strategic railway lines is important for this region. The region currently has 6,829 km of rail network, mostly in the state of Assam.
The railway will also be used to develop tourism in this region. In 2023, various deluxe trains begans operations connecting major locations such as Kamakhya Temple in Guwahati, Kaziranga National Park in Assam, Unakoti in Tripura, Cherrapunji in Meghalaya, and Dimapur in Nagaland.
List of Northeast India railway lines
By states
See map of under-construction rail lines in Northeast India.- Railway in Arunachal Pradesh
- Railway in Assam
- Railway in Manipur
- Railway in Meghalaya
- Railway in Mizoram
- Railway in Nagaland
- Railway in Sikkim
- Railway in Tripura