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

Big decision on Operation Bulldozer in Delhi: SC said - Prohibition on operation in Jahangirpuri continues, not in the whole country; hearing after two weeks

On Thursday, the Supreme Court has given a big decision on the action of the Municipal Corporatio

Ukraine War: Putin had threatened to attack Britain before Ukraine, Boris Johnson said – threatened me on the phone

Boris Johnson's Claim on Putin Former UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson has made a big disclosure t

Kapil Sharma: MNS warns Kapil Sharma, says stop calling Mumbai 'Bombay' in your show, else there will be protests

Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) on Thursday warned comedian Kapil Sharma not to call Mumbai 'Bom

World Cup: Rahul Dravid may leave the post of coach after the World Cup, considering having different coaches after two captains

ODI World Cup 2023 is to start from October 5. The Indian team will look to end the 10-year ICC t

FDI: Delhi is third and Haryana fifth in getting FDI, Singapore has the highest investment of 27.01 percent

Delhi has been ranked third and Haryana fifth in getting Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in the y

Five envoys present credentials to president

New Delhi, March 18 (IANS) Envoys of five countries including Maldives and Italy presented thei

IPL 2022: 'New Malinga' in place of injured Adam Milne in Chennai, did wonders for Sri Lanka's Under-19 team

Sri Lanka's young fast bowler Mathias Pathirana has been added to the team of Chennai Super Kings

Petrol Diesel Price Today: Petrol crosses Rs 121 per liter in this district of Madhya Pradesh, diesel price reached Rs 110

Petrol Diesel Price Today: For the first time in Anuppur district bordering Madhya Pradesh, the p

PM Modi: 'Women were left to their fate in previous governments', PM Modi gave a gift of Rs 10 thousand crores

Prime Minister Narendra Modi participated in the Empowered Women Development India program today.

Corona cases rise again in the country: 2.11 lakh new cases, 3,841 deaths on the previous day; Relief that more people were cured than newly infected in 26 states

In the last 24 hours, 2 lakh 11 thousand 275 new corona were found infected in the country. More

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