SHILLONG: The number of people using trains to commute from Mendipathar to Guwahati is less because it takes more time to travel on rail route than by road.
North Garo Hills Deputy Commissioner SC Sadhu said many passengers have complained that train takes more time to reach Guwahati because it stops at Dudhnoi for 20 minutes.
Sadhu said the district administration has already taken up the matter with Northeast Frontier Railway.
Around 100-200 passengers use the train from Mendipathar to Guwahati.
Earlier, a line between Dudhnoi and Deepa was proposed in the Railway Budget 1992–93 but later alignment was changed to Dudhnoi-Mendipathar in 2007 due to opposition from locals.
Mendipathar currently is the first and only railway station in Meghalaya and the train station was inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on November 30, 2014, through a video feed to the ceremony in North Garo Hills.
Mendipathar-Guwahati Passenger is the only train from the station.
Recently, a Garo organisation had requested the Centre to expand railway connectivity from Mendipathar and add more long-distance trains to the time table.
The A’Chik Indigenous Justice Initiative Forum has asked the Railway Ministry to consider development of railway infrastructure in this region.
The NGO also wants one freight train for industrial development and transport of coal from the dumping yard at Mendipathar railway station.
