Andaman’s First Railway Line: The Port Blair–Diglipur Train, Explained

The project is a single broad-gauge railway line connecting the islands’ capital, Port Blair — renamed Sri Vijaya Puram on 13 September 2024 — with Diglipur, the largest town in North Andaman. At roughly 240 km, it would be the only railway anywhere in the Andaman & Nicobar Islands and one of the very few railway lines in the country built almost entirely on an island chain.

Andaman today runs on just two kinds of long-distance transport: aircraft and boats. There is no train, no metro and no expressway. The proposed line is designed to change that for the islands’ busiest north–south corridor, the same route the Andaman Trunk Road (ATR) struggles to serve in a single comfortable day.

Because the islands are narrow and mountainous, the alignment is planned largely along the coast, carried on bridges and embankments where the terrain demands it. That coastal routing is also why the line is being talked about as a tourist draw in its own right: passengers would get long stretches of sea-and-forest views from the window — the kind of scenery that, on the mainland, people travel to Konkan or the Nilgiris specifically to see. Our writers who have driven the ATR can confirm the corridor is genuinely spectacular; a rail line would open it to anyone who finds the bus or ferry tiring.

Three reasons, all of them practical:

• Geography and history — the islands are remote and were historically governed as a penal and strategic outpost, not a commercial hub, so heavy infrastructure came late;
• Difficult terrain — the terrain is hilly, heavily forested and crossed by the protected Jarawa Tribal Reserve, which makes any large linear project slow and sensitive to plan;
• Weak financials — on a pure commercial basis a railway here loses money. The internal survey put the rate of return at −9.64%, i.e. negative. That is the single biggest reason the idea was proposed and shelved for decades.

What changed is the lens. Indian Railways’ Planning and Finance directorates cleared the line not on profit but because it is, in their words, “unique, away from the mainland, and has tourism potential” — and because of its strategic value to the defence forces. Diglipur sits only about 300 km by sea from the southern coast of Myanmar, which makes fast, reliable surface movement to the north of the island chain a national-security asset, not just a tourism convenience.

The Port Blair–Diglipur line has one of the longer on-again, off-again histories of any railway in India. The short version:

In other words: the political will and the in-principle clearance exist, but a confirmed construction start and an opening date do not yet. We will update this section the moment Indian Railways or the A&N administration announces a contract award or groundbreaking.

Until the line opens, every traveller heading from Port Blair to Diglipur uses one of four options. Here is how the proposed train compares with what exists now, on the metrics that actually decide your day.

The contrast is stark. The railway would do in three hours what currently eats an entire day by road or sea, and it would run on a fixed schedule that doesn’t hang on ferry availability or a helicopter priority list. For North Andaman tourism — Saddle Peak, the Ross & Smith twin islands, the Kalipur turtle beaches — that’s potentially transformational.

The reason a three-hour train doesn’t already exist comes down to engineering as much as economics. A railway across the Andamans has to solve problems most mainland lines never face:

• Terrain — the north–south corridor runs through hills and dense tropical forest, so the line needs heavy earthwork, embankments and bridges rather than easy flat track;
• The Jarawa reserve — the alignment crosses the protected Jarawa Tribal Reserve, where construction is legally and ethically sensitive and access is tightly controlled, exactly as road convoys are today;
• Seismic and coastal risk — the islands sit in one of India’s most active seismic zones — the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami originated near here — so structures must be built to high earthquake and coastal-surge standards;
• Everything is imported — every rail, sleeper, girder and machine has to be shipped in from the mainland, hundreds of kilometres across open sea, which inflates both cost and timeline.

None of these is a deal-breaker on its own, but together they explain both the high per-kilometre cost and why the government weighs the line on strategic value rather than a profit-and-loss sheet. They are also why a realistic build, once it starts, will be measured in years, not months.

Right now, most Andaman itineraries stop at Havelock (Swaraj Dweep) and Neil (Shaheed Dweep) because going further north costs a precious day each way. A three-hour train would put North Andaman within easy reach of a standard week-long trip, and that changes what a holiday here can include.

The far north opens up

Diglipur is the gateway to some of the archipelago’s most underrated sights: Saddle Peak (732 m, the highest point in the islands), the picture-perfect Ross & Smith twin islands joined by a natural sandbar, and the Kalipur turtle-nesting beaches, where four sea-turtle species nest between roughly November and March. A faster journey makes all of this realistic for ordinary visitors rather than only the very determined.

Easier for sea-sick travellers

There’s a genuine practical win here too. Travellers prone to sea-sickness who dread the long ferry, and those who find the 10-12 hour bus exhausting, would finally have a smooth land option for the north. A train is far gentler than a small-vessel crossing in open water.

More balanced tourism

Today Andaman’s tourist footfall — more than four lakh visitors a year — concentrates heavily on Port Blair and Havelock. Spreading some of that demand north would ease pressure on the busiest islands and bring income to North Andaman communities. To plan a trip that already includes the north, our team’s full Andaman package options are a useful starting point.

The train is years away. Here is how to get to North Andaman right now, the way our writers actually do it:

Step 1: Fly into Port Blair (Sri Vijaya Puram). Veer Savarkar International Airport (IXZ) is the only airport, with direct flights from Chennai (~2 hr) and Kolkata, plus one-stop connections from most metros. Indians no longer need a permit for the main islands (the RAP was abolished in 2018).

Step 2: Decide your northbound mode the day you land. Government bus and the occasional government ferry both leave from Port Blair; the helicopter is rarely available to tourists. Book whatever you can as early as possible — ferry tickets open only 1–2 days before sailing.

Step 3: If going by road, start very early. Government buses leave around 4:30 AM and take about 10–12 hours via the Andaman Trunk Road. You will travel in a timed convoy through the Jarawa Tribal Reserve, where photography and stopping are prohibited.

Step 4: If going by ferry, confirm the sailing. The direct government ferry runs Port Blair–Rangat–Diglipur in about 8–9 hours but does not sail daily. Check the schedule at the Port Blair jetty and book the moment the window opens.

Step 5: Break the journey at Rangat or Mayabunder if you can. Splitting the long haul over two days makes North Andaman far more enjoyable and lets you see Baratang’s limestone caves and mud volcano en route.

Step 6: Base yourself in Diglipur for the highlights. From Diglipur town, Saddle Peak, Ross & Smith islands and Kalipur beach are all short local trips. Two nights is the sweet spot.

Honestly: approved, not yet built. The 240-km line has Railway Board clearance on strategic and tourism grounds, but as of June 2026 there is no confirmed construction contract or public opening date. Big island infrastructure in Andaman has a track record of slipping — the same is true of other long-promised projects in the territory — so treat any “trains by 20XX” headline with caution. If you are planning a trip in the next few years, plan around road, ferry and air — not the train. We track official announcements and will refresh this page when there is a contract award or groundbreaking.

The Andaman & Nicobar Islands’ first railway — the 240-km Port Blair–Diglipur line — is a genuine, government-approved project that would turn a punishing day-long trip into a three-hour ride and open up the islands’ beautiful far north. It just isn’t running yet, and won’t be for some years. If the north is on your wish list, the smart move is to plan a trip now around the ferries, flights and road that already work — and let the train be the reason you come back. To start planning, browse our Andaman tour packages, or read our full Andaman travel guide and how to reach Andaman guide for the practical details, including the Port Blair city guide.