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

Rahul Gandhi: Will Rahul Gandhi succeed in becoming the face of the opposition? Who will become an obstacle in the way

Rahul Gandhi's Bharat Jodo Yatra is going to start again on January 3. After traveling about 2800

Night curfew in Delhi from 10 pm to 5 am till 30 April; More than 3500 cases have been coming here since last 4 days

To curb the growing cases of Corona, the Delhi government has taken a big step. The Kejriwal gove

Dhawan most popular Indian cricketer on Twitter

Hamilton, March 11 (IANS) Prolific left-handed opener Shikhar Dhawan was once again the most ta

Effect of new privacy policy: 15% of users will leave WhatsApp completely, 36% will reduce usage before

There is a lot of discussion on social media these days about WhatsApp's new privacy policy. Peop

ED questioned Sonia again today: Sonia Gandhi said – Motilal Vora used to watch transactions; 75 questions asked so far in 9 hours

ED will question Congress President Sonia Gandhi on Wednesday for the third day in the National H

IND vs SA Playing-11: Last chance for India to improve death over bowling, Bumrah-Arshdeep can play together

Before the T20 World Cup, the Indian team will play the last T20 series against South Africa. Bot

IND vs ENG: 'Bumrah will play three matches', de Villiers lashed out at Gambhir and the team management, gave the example of Dale Steyn

The second match of the five-match Test series between India and England will be played at Edgbas

President, PM congratulate Australia for World Cup win

New Delhi, March 29 (IANS) President Pranab Mukherjee and Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunda

Ind vs WI: Hit yourself on the ax! Who is responsible for India's humiliating defeat in the 5th T20? Learn 5 big reasons

Ind vs WI 5th T20 Team India faced a crushing defeat in the five-match T20 series against the Wes

Kisan protest: can a solution be reached through Supreme Court?

The strike of the farmers on the borders of Delhi has been going on continuously for the last thr

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