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.



 

0 Like 0 Dislike
Previous news Next news
Other news

Ali Fazal: Many directors had advised Ali Fazal not to be a part of 'Mirzapur', and the actor told the reason

Ali Fazal is no match in terms of acting. These days he is in the news for his film 'Khufiya' dir

Red Fort Violence 2021: Bigger disclosure than charge sheet, 'farmers' wanted to make Red Fort a picket site

The Delhi Police has made a big disclosure about the violent demonstration on the Red Fort during

Visit of Russian Foreign Minister to India: Arrives in Delhi today on a two-day visit; US-Australia expressed displeasure; UK Foreign Secretary to meet Foreign Minister Jaishankar

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov will arrive in Delhi today on a two-day official visit. Th

CSK vs LSG Playing 11: Lucknow faces the challenge of breaking the fort of Chepauk, eyes will be on Mayank Yadav's return.

Five-time champion Chennai Super Kings (CSK) had to face defeat from Lucknow Supergiants in the l

DigiYatra: Now your face is the 'boarding pass' at the airport, Scindia launches 'DigiYatra' facility

Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia launched the Digiyatra facility on Thursday. Under t

Crimes against minorities issue raised in Lok Sabha

New Delhi, March 17 (IANS) Opposition parties, led by the Congress, on Tuesday raised in the Lo

29 crore cash found from Arpita Mukherjee's second house: Raid lasted for 18 hours, 5 kg gold also seized; 4 days ago 22 crores were received

Arpita Mukherjee's troubles are increasing in the West Bengal teacher scam. The Enforcement Direc

Independence's Amrit Festival in Sabarmati: Modi said - watching history build on Bapu's workplace, public leaders like Nehru and Patel were the pioneers of the freedom movement

The central government has announced to celebrate the 'Amrit Mahotsav of Azadi' from 12 March 202

Amul Milk Price Hike: Amul shocks customers, increases milk price by Rs 3 per liter

The price of Amul Full Cream Milk Price has been increased by Rs 3 per liter from the country's l

Ram Mandir: Fans surrounded 'Virat Kohli' in Ayodhya, and pushed him for a selfie, man saved his life in this way

Indian cricket team's star batsman Virat Kohli on Monday decided to withdraw from the first two T

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