Railways to connect all northeastern state capitals by 2020


Posted on 17th Mar 2015 11:31 am by mohit kumar

Silchar (Assam), March 16 (IANS) The Northeast Frontier Railway (NFR), which is building rail infrastructure in the region, has targeted to connect all its eight state capitals by 2020, a senior official has said.

"We would connect all the state capitals of the eight northeastern states by railway link within 2020," NFR general manager (construction) Rakesh Kumar Singh told reporters here.

He said: "Mizoram capital Aizawl and Manipur capital Imphal would be connected by railway network by 2018 and 2019 respectively. The capitals of the remaining states would be linked by 2020 and the works are on to achieve the target."

Tripura's capital Agartala already connected by railway networks, even though line between Assam's Silchar-Agartala is meter gauge.

Agartala came up on the country's rail map in 2008. Currently, northeastern states have around 2,700 km railway line comprising meter gauge and broad gauge (BG) lines, officials said.

Singh, who was leading a 45-member NFR team, arrived in Silchar railway station from Guwahati on Sunday afternoon with the first nine-bogie railway trial inspection train, which left for Guwahati on Monday.

On Friday, the team said it successfully carried out trial run of a diesel engine from Lumding to Silchar on the newly-converted broad gauge (BG) line. The regular train service on the new BG line would be conducted from April after the clearance of Railway Safety Commissioner.

The total length of Lumding-Silchar BG line is 220 km and it consists of 17 tunnels (with longest one being 3.235 km long), 79 major bridges, 340 minor bridges, 28 railway stations and four halt stations.

The NFR general manager (construction) said now the Silchar-Agartala railway track would be converted from meter gauge to BG by March next year.

The foundation of the much-delayed gauge conversion project -- Lumding to Silchar and Silchar to Agartala -- was laid by the then prime minister H.D. Deve Gowda in Silchar in 1996.

In 2004, the then prime minister Manmohan Singh declared the project a national one.

The railways faced severe criticism for the delay in completing the Rs.5,185-crore project that is considered to be a lifeline for southern Assam, Tripura, Mizoram and Manipur.

Railways Minister Suresh Prabhu, during his budget speech in the parliament on February 26, said the Indian Railways was committed to provide rail connectivity to all the northeastern states.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Nov 29, 2014 flagged off a train between Meghalaya's Mendipathar and Guwahati, a distance of 131 km, and laid the foundation stone for a 51.38 km-long new broad gauge railway line between Bhairabi and Sairang in Mizoram.

On February 20, Modi flag off the first weekly air-conditioned express train service between Delhi and Arunachal Pradesh in Itanagar.



 

Did you know?Explore Trending and Topic pages for more stories like this.
0 Like 0 Dislike
Previous news Next news
Other news

India's counterattack on China's propaganda: India released a photo in response to China's video; 30 armed Indian soldiers with tricolors deployed on LAC

Indian tricolor was hoisted in Galwan on the occasion of New Year. A picture of this has surfaced

Gyanvapi Case: Hearing on the petition of the Muslim side in the Gyanvapi case, the Varanasi Court's decision

In the Gyanvapi case, the petition of the Muslim side will be heard first. Varanasi Court has giv

The peak of Corona was 30 days, then there were 98 thousand cases, now the figure is 60 thousand; 73.72 lakh cases so far

Corona has weakened in the country. Cases are coming down and more patients are recovering. In th

No need for night and weekend curfew in Delhi, Kejriwal government told the High Court - the Karona infection is decreasing

After assessing the status of COVID-19, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government told the Delhi High

Vicky Kaushal became an actor from an engineer, read some unheard things on his birthday

New Delhi: Vicky Kaushal, who impressed everyone with his acting in Bollywood, is celebrating his

'Save us', the Pakistani leader pleaded to PM Modi; they said- you are our last hope.

After the terrorist attack in Pahalgam, India carried out Operation Sindoor in Pakistan and PoK,

North Korea: South Korea said - North Korea fired another ballistic missile toward the eastern waters

South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said on Friday that North Korea has fired a ballistic missile

Reviving craftsmanship, Empowering women in South Asia

New Delhi, March 31 (IANS) Women are generally not allowed to venture too far from their homes

Firing in America's Walmart: News of 10 people killed, an eyewitness said – Manager fired at the staff

A mass firing incident took place at Walmart in Virginia, USA on Tuesday. There is news of 10 peo

Political rhetoric intensified in Bengaluru regarding waterlogging, and now Aam Aadmi Party also targeted BJP

Due to heavy rains in Bengaluru in the past, water-logging conditions have arisen in many places

Sign up to write
Sign up now if you have flare of writing..
Login   |   Register
Follow Us
Indyaspeak @ Facebook Indyaspeak @ Twitter Indyaspeak @ Pinterest RSS



Play Free Quiz and Win Cash