Maligaon, April 15 (MExN): On the occasion of Bohag Bihu, Prime Minister Narendra Modi dedicated 249 kms of double line, 86 km of new line and 512 kms of electrified railway track of Assam to the Nation during a programme held at Guwahati on April 13.
A press release from Sabyasachi De, Chief Public Relations Officer, NFR stated that Gulab Chand Kataria, Governor of Assam; Dr Himanta Biswa Sarma, Chief Minister of Assam; Sarbananda Sonowal, Union Minister of Ports, Shipping & Waterways and Ayush; Rameswar Teli, Union Minister of State for Petroleum and Natural Gas and Labour & Employment and Bimal Borah, Minister, Government of Assam were also present on the occasion.
Speaking on the occasion, Prime Minister mentioned that there was always the issue of lack of physical connectivity in the Northeast, which is being addressed by the present government by laying emphasis on road, rail and air connectivity. During last 9 years broad gauge trains reached Manipur, Mizoram, Meghalaya, Arunachal Pradesh and Tripura. New rail lines are being laid in the Northeast three times faster than before, and the doubling of rail lines taking place at almost 10 times faster than earlier.
The PM highlighted that five railway projects inaugurated today worth more than Rs 6,000 crore will accelerate the development of a large part of the region including Assam. He added that rail has reached a large part of Assam for the first time and the doubling of rail lines will provide easy connectivity to Assam as well as Manipur, Mizoram, Tripura and Nagaland. Traveling to places of faith and tourism will now become easy, he noted.
The Digaru to Lumding 147 km long double line section was constructed at a cost of Rs 2,538 crore. Construction of 17 Major Bridges, 106 Minor Bridges and seven Road Over Bridges are involved. This section passes through the Kamrup (Metro), Marigaon and Nagaon districts of Assam. It helped in reducing the operational constraints of the route which is responsible for all train movements towards states like Nagaland, Mizoram, Manipur, Tripura apart from South and Upper Assam areas.
The New Bongaigaon-Dhupdhara 102 km long section was constructed as part of the ongoing New Bongaigaon-Goalpara-Kamakhya 176 km long doubling project. Construction of 35 Major Bridges, 228 Minor Bridges and 24 Road Under Bridges are involved in this section. The project cost was Rs 1,962 crore. Passing through the Bongaigaon and Goalpara districts of Assam, it will be beneficial for operating trains towards NE region.
Gauripur-Abhayapuri 86 km new line section is part of the New Mainaguri (in West Bengal) to Jogighopa (in Assam) 279 km long new Railway line project. It passes through five stations namely Alamganj, Bagribari, Bilasipara, Chapar and Bechimari. With the completion of this section, population of a huge area falling under the Dhubri and Bongaigaon districts of Assam got the benefit of Railway service for the very first time. Constructed at a cost of Rs 1,267 crore, it involves construction of 30 Major Bridges, 305 Minor Bridges, three tunnels, 133 Road Under Bridges and two road over bridges.
As part of the Indian Railways ambitious plan to become the largest ‘Green Railways’ in the world, it plans to become a zero carbon emission network by 2030. Newly electrified 381 km Raninagar Jalpaiguri-Guwahati and 131 km Chaparmukh-Senchoa & Senchoa-Mairabari sections will lead to seamless connectivity of trains to and from NE to various metro cities like New Delhi, Chennai, Mumbai, Kolkata, Ahmedabad etc. Running of heavy hauled goods train towards NE became possible. Train operation cost also reduced significantly due to savings on fossil fuel consumption.
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