The Union Cabinet has cleared the proposal to set up a twin‑tube road‑cum‑rail tunnel between Gohpur and Numaligarh in Assam, which would be India’s first underwater twin‑tube tunnel combining both modes.Information and Broadcasting Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw informed mediapersons on Saturday that the four-laned underwater tunnel section would be 15.8-km long, within a total project length of 34 km across Golaghat and Biswanath districts, with an estimated cost of Rs 18,662 crore and a construction period of five years.Vaishnaw said the project would slash the distance between Gohpur and Numaligarh from 240 km to just 34 km and cut journey time from about six hours to 20 minutes, while doubling average travel speed.The tunnel is pitched as a high‑speed connectivity lifeline for Assam and Arunachal Pradesh, boosting tourism, border connectivity and cross‑border trade, and generating an estimated 80 lakh person-days of employment.