China has given the green light on the strategic construction of a railway line in Tibet near the Arunachal Pradesh Indian border.
The country's economic planning agency authorized the feasibility report on the construction of the railway line connecting Lhasa and Nyingchi.
Following the Qinghai-Tibet railway line, the upcoming elevated railway line is the second to be constructed in Tibet. The prior railway line, established in 2006, connects Lhasa, the provincial capital of Tibet, to Xining in the Qinghai Province.
The Lhasa to Nyingchi railway construction plan was announced in August this year. Nyingchi is situated in the closest area to the land borders of Arunachal. The railway line will be located near the Sikkim Indian border nearby Bhutan and Nepal borders.
The new railway line will span 253 kilometers and is estimated to cost nearly $2.16 billion. It will be connecting Xigaze, the Himalayan region's second biggest city, and Lhasa, the provincial capital of Tibet.
Bhutan, India and Nepal will be connected by the new railway extension by 2020.
The official declaration of the new railway expansion came along with India's plans to make improvements on existing road networks within the Arunachal Pradesh border, which the government of China is claiming as Southern Tibet.