GUWAHATI: Capital investments to the tune of Rs 27,655 crore by Indian Railways has ensured major railway connectivity to the North East during the past six years, an official statement issued here on Saturday, informed.
The investment in Northeast projects in the past six years is 160 per cent more than that of Rs 10,610 crore made during 2009 to 2014.
Among the major projects completed during the past six years include the five-km long Bogibeel Rail cum Road Bridge across river Brahmaputra which was commissioned in December 2018.
“The bridge has brought North and South Assam closer together like never before by shortening rail travel distance between Naharlagun (Itanagar) and Dibrugarh by more than 700 km, thereby reducing travelling time from 24 to just five hours. The Road distance between Dibrugarh and Itanagar also reduced by more than 100 km,” the statement said.
Barak Valley was connected with broad gauge rail network in November 2015 with completion of gauge conversion work of Lumding-Silchar section while the 503 km gauge conversion project between Rangiya and Murkongselek was commissioned in August 2015.
In fact, the entire rail network of Northeastern states, barring Sikkim, has been converted to broad gauge with a total of 972 Kms converted in three years (2014-17).
“Meghalaya was connected with broad gauge network with a 20-km long new line from Dudhnoi to Mendipather in November 2014. Besides, Manipur was connected at Jiribam for passenger services in May 2016, Mizoram connected at Bhairabi for passenger services in May 2016 while Tripura too was connected in May 2016,” the statement said.
The capital city of Arunachal Pradesh was connected with New Delhi through direct train service on February 20, 2015.
While the capitals of Assam, Tripura and Arunachal Pradesh are already connected, the remaining Northeastern state capitals will be connected by March 2023.
The Indian Railways plans to complete the 22-km Teteliya-Brynihat and Jiribam-Imphal (111km) tracks by March 2022. The deadline for completion of Dimapur-Kohima line (82km) and the Bhairabi-Sairang (51km) track in Mizoram is March 2023.