Indian Railway to extend connectivity to border areas of North Eastern region

Guwahati (Assam) [India], July 25 (ANI): The Indian Railway has planned to extend the railway connectivity to the border areas of the North Eastern region as well as internally connect Imphal, Aizawl, and Kohima in the coming years, thereby reducing travel time to the region.

Sabyasachi De, CPRO of Northeast Frontier Railway (NF Railway), told ANI that there are lots of future railway projects in the North Eastern region.

“For the connectivity for Myanmar towards the easternmost part of the North East, we have the project of Imphal to Moreh connectivity. For connectivity to Bangladesh, we also have lots of projects. Apart from that, we will have future projects that will connect internally, namely Imphal, Aizawl, and Kohima. In the future, we will also connect the border areas. The Moreh project is now in the survey stage,” Sabyasachi De said.

The CPRO of NF Railway further said that 18 projects are going on in the North East region, and the total investment is around Rs 74,000 crore, out of which we have already spent around Rs 40,000 crore.

“The Mizoram project is nearly complete, and 93 per cent of the work on the project has been completed, from Bairabi to Sairang, and this project will be completed in the next financial year. In this financial year, we are expecting to open the first block section, which is Bairabi to Hortoki. One Arunachal Pradesh connectivity project, the Murkongselek to Pasighat line, is going on, and similarly, the Sarupathar-Bame section is in the DPR stage. There is also a Tawang connectivity project, and this project is in the survey stage. After the completion of the survey, we will get the sanction, and this project will also start,” the NF Railway CPRO said.

On the other hand, talking about the Union Budget 2024-25 allocation to NF Railway and the North Eastern region for railway connectivity, Sabyasachi De said that this is the highest-ever allocation for the North East in the railway sector. Every year, the allocation has increased, and this is the highest-ever allocation.

“The Northeast Frontier Railway covers 8 North Eastern states and North Bengal, east of Bihar, and the total budget allocation is more than Rs 14,000 crore. For eight North Eastern states, the budget allocation is around Rs 10,300 crore. This budget allocation is mainly for Amrit Bharat stations, new line projects, electrification, doubling, and all other safety-related works. In previous years, we have completed 470 rail overbridges and underbridges. In the previous financial year, we electrified 921 road km, and this year we have a target of 1573 road km, which will completely electrify the entire NFR, and we have a target for December 2024. We are expecting a lot of Vande Bharat trains and Amrit Bharat trains, which will be operated to and from and within the North East region also,” Sabyasachi De said.

On the other hand, talking about the new rail-cum-road bridge over the Brahmaputra River in Guwahati, the CPRO of NF Railway said that, the third Saraighat and second rail-cum-road bridge over the Brahmaputra River were sanctioned in February this year.

“The hydrological studies and other initial studies of the new bridge have been done, and we are now in a position where tenders might be floated by August this year,” Sabyasachi De said.