Guwahati: In view of very heavy rainfall leading to breach and landslides in many places in Lumding – Badarpur hill section of the Northeast Frontier Railway (NFR) , several trains remain cancelled as informed by the chief public relations officer of the NFR, Pranab Jyoti Sharma on Wednesday No. 55616 Silchar – Guwahati fast passenger scheduled to leave from Silchar on 19.05.2016 & 20.05.2016 will remain cancelled between Silchar and Guwahati.
No. 55615 Guwahati – Silchar fast passenger scheduled to leave from Guwahati on 18.05.2016 & 19.05.2016 will remain cancelled between Guwahati and Silchar.
25657 Guwahati – Silchar Link Kanchanjungha Express scheduled to leave from Guwahati on 19.05.2016 will remain cancelled between Guwahati and Silchar. 25658 Silchar – Guwahati Link Kanchanjungha Express scheduled to leave Silchar on 20.05.2016 will remain cancelled between Silchar and Guwahati. It will run between Guwahati and Sealdah.
Due to heavy rains, huge landslides occurred in the Lumding-Badarpur hill section in southern Assam on Monday night. Torrential rain and heavy landslides have disrupted rail services connecting southern Assam (Barak Valley) , Tripura, Manipur and Mizoram even as Railway workers have been working overtime to clear the debris in many places on the railway track passing through the hills of Dima Hasao district in Assam that connects Brahmaputra Valley to Barak Valley. The worst affected portion of the track because of the landslide lies at Fidhing and its neighbourhood.
NFR officials and engineers accompanied by district administration officials camped at the spot, 300 km south of Guwahati, to supervise the clearance work. Similar such disruptions of railway operations had occurred for two weeks in the same areas till May 6.
The railway line from Guwahati passes through southern Assam connecting land-locked Tripura’s capital Agartala and parts of Manipur and Mizoram with the rest of India.
Thousands of passengers, bound for Guwahati and the rest of the country, were stranded in southern Assam’s Badarpur, Silchar and Lumding areas after the disruption of railway services. The Guwahati-Silchar railway line is the lifeline for Baraka Valley in Assam comprising districts of Cachar, Karimganj, Hailakandi , known as Barak Valley, and the mountainous states of Tripura, Manipur and Mizoram.
These states are heavily dependent on this railway line for supply of food grain, fertilisers, petroleum products, construction materials and other commodities.
The 437-km Lumding-Silchar and Badarpur-Agartala gauge conversion works, which was sanctioned in 1996. The project’s commissioning was delayed because of ranging insurgency in Dima Hasao district of Assam during 2006 to 2009.
