The 215 km long Lumding - Silchar section of the Northeast Frontier Railway is one of the oldest railway track
Highlights
- Railways decided to widen tracks on Lumding-Silchar section in 1996
- Work was stalled due to militancy, finally completed in last two years
- PM touted rail connectivity in North East among government's achievements
Debjani Dhar makes it a point to peep out of the window every time the Guwahati-Silchar passenger train makes a stop on its way to Silchar, a border town in Assam.
"We used to travel by bus, but the road condition is very bad. Now this train has come and we are enjoying the beauty and it is very comfortable for us," says Ms Dhar as she soaks in the beauty of the surroundings.
The 215 km-long Lumding - Silchar section of the Northeast Frontier Railway (NFR) has been converted into broad gauge and thrown open to passenger traffic last November.
This section is one of the oldest railway tracks that offers a breathtaking view of Assam as it winds up the North-Cachar hills. Considered an engineering marvel built by the British, the Indian Railways had decided to widen the tracks for faster travel in 1996.
But work suffered because of the militancy in the area and the project crawled along. Dr Manmohan Singh, who represents Assam in the Rajya Sabha, upgraded it to a national project and increased its funding. But the Railways say bulk of the work was completed only in the last two years: perhaps the reason why Prime Minister Narendra Modi highlighted rail connectivity in the North East as one of the achievements of his government.
"Since the formation of the NDA government at the Centre, more than 10,000 crores have been spent on rail connectivity in the North East," declared the PM in Shillong on Friday where he
flagged off three trains to put Manipur and Mizoram on the rail map and connect the pilgrim centres of Kamakhya in Guwahati and Vaishno Devi in Jammu and Kashmir.
But hilly terrain, heavy rainfall, landslides and a difficult alignment of this route have raised serious questions of safety.
"We have our safety teams constituted at the headquarter level. They go to the various divisions, inspect the tracks and, not only tracks but all others facets of Indian Railways,"says HK Jaggi, general manager of the Northeast Frontier Railway.
Words of assurance for passengers who depend on this track for a comfortable journey at an affordable cost.