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

BSF has joined the fleet of three new floating border out-post ships, ready in the country

On one hand, on Wednesday, where the 73rd Republic Day was celebrated with great pomp in the coun

Preparations for the big announcement of Prashant Kishor: Election strategists meeting with Sonia Gandhi at 10 Janpath, big Congress leaders also present

Prashant Kishor, who has played the role of strategic advisor to many political parties till now,

UGC NET: New dates of the UGC-NET exam announced, now exams will be held on these dates, format also changed

The National Examination Agency (NTA) has announced new dates for the UGC-NET 2024 exam. However,

Lockdown in Delhi: From today till the morning of 26 April, only essential services, Kejriwal said - If 25 thousand cases keep coming up every day, then our health system will break

The lockdown will be held in the country's capital Delhi from 10 am tonight to 5 am on April 26.

The Foreign Minister of Belarus arrives in India on a two-day visit, and will meet S Jaishankar this evening

Belarus Foreign Minister Vladimir Makei arrived in Delhi on Wednesday for his two-day visit to In

Worldline Report: UPI transactions grew by more than 90 percent to Rs 26.19 lakh crore, total transactions of 14.55 billion were done in January-March this year

In the first three months (January-March) of 2022 in the country, more than 14.55 billion transac

Petrol Diesel Price Today: Oil companies have released the prices of petrol and diesel, know how much the prices are in your city

Petrol Diesel Price: Oil companies have released the prices of petrol and diesel for today. Today

Weather Update Today: Heavy rain alert in these states including UP, schools closed, trains affected

Monsoon has left many states of the country, but due to Cyclone Noru, many parts of the country h

Narendra Modi: 'We are determined to make India the third largest economy in the world': PM Modi at G20 meeting

Prime Minister Narendra Modi (PM Modi) virtually addressed the G20 meeting of trade and investmen

Pushpa 2 Leaked Online: 'Pushpa 2' leaked online in HD print as soon as it was released, makers may suffer losses worth crores.

Allu Arjun starrer 'Pushpa 2: The Rule' has been released in theatres on 5 December amid a lot of

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