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

Kerala Tourism wins national award for website content

New Delhi/Thiruvananthapuram, March 25 (IANS) Kerala Tourism was on Wednesday conferred the nat

Arunachal Pradesh: Home Minister Amit Shah's visit to China border will be special, know what will be the 'day-plan'

Union Home Minister Amit Shah will be on a tour of Arunachal Pradesh on Monday. During this, he w

Is Today Eid 2026? Is Eid Today or Tomorrow? When Will the Celebrations Take Place in India?

Eid-ul-Fitr is one of the most significant festivals in the Islamic faith. It is celebrated follo

Cryptocurrency Bill: Most crypto exchanges looking to exit India, know which countries are planning to camp

Several cryptocurrency exchanges, including Zebpay, Unocoin, Coinsecure, BuyUcoin, and BTCX India

SSC CGL Notification 2023: CGL exam notification released, 7500 vacancies, apply till May 3

The notification for the Combined Graduate Level Exam 2023 has been issued by the Staff Selection

Sambhal: The electricity department team reached SP MP Bark's house for inspection, checked the load along with the meter reading

Faults have been found in the electricity meter installed by SP MP Ziaur Rahman Bark and former M

Kolkata port handles record cargo this fiscal

Kolkata, March 11 (IANS) The city's dockyard under Kolkata Port Trust (KoPT) on Wednesday said

DC vs MI IPL 2023: The last over was high voltage drama, due to these mistakes Mumbai snatched victory from Delhi

Mumbai Indians Win IPL 2023 First Match Against Delhi Capitals. In the 16th match of IPL 2023, Mu

India, US close to implementation of civil nuclear deal

New Delhi, March 20 (IANS) India and the US are on way to implementation of their long-pending

Ukraine's Independence Day today, Russia will do the biggest attack: Putin sent heavy missiles; America alerted

This is the fear of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. In his speech 4 days before the indep

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