Tawang (Arunachal Pradesh), Nov 8 (IANS): 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 foundation stone of North east frontier railways camp office cum rest house in this scenic mountainous border town on Friday.

Tawang, a strategic border town in Arunachal Pradesh, which China claims to be southern Tibet.

"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.

Kumar said the proposed railway tunnel crossing Dzela pass will be 27 km is one of the longest tunnel 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

Congratulating Senior Indian railways officers Dondup expressed his gratitude to the land owners of Shartso Committee for leasing out the land, initially for a period of three years for the purpose of Camp office cum rest house which can extended or acquired if needed in future.