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.
Two days ago, when US President Joe Biden described nuclear-armed Pakistan as one of the most dan
A new and shocking update has emerged in the case of the knife attack on actor Saif Ali Khan. Aft
Companies spend money lavishly to make their brands reach the millions of people who come to take
Strong tremors of the earthquake have been felt in Japan late at night. Four people have died due
Why won't it matter to India if Pakistan doesn't come to play World Cup, said former player
Pakistan Cricket Board Chief Rameez Raja recently said that if India does not come to Pakistan to
Within 24 hours, more than 2.33 lakh patients were found, 1.22 lakh people were cured and 1338 died.
Things have worsened in the country. Coronavirus has engulfed the entire country. In every state,
Pakistan's Punjab province is suffering from air pollution these days. Given the ever-increasing
China: Xi Jinping again became the President of China, unanimously got the term for the third time
Xi Jinping has once again become the President of China for the third consecutive term. Xi has se
Instead of taking lessons from the heart-wrenching murder of Shraddha Walker in Delhi, some peopl
IPL 2025: Did Lucknow make a plan of '50 crores' to buy Rohit? Statement of team owner Sanjiv Goenka
There may be a mega auction this year for IPL 2025. Talks are currently going on between the BCCI
