Except for Shillong all NE state capitals to be connected by rail soon: GM NEF railways

North-East Frontier (NEF) Railways general manager, Anshul Gupta, on October 13 said that the work of connecting all Northeastern state capitals by rail is progressing fast except for Meghalaya majority of them are going to be connected by December 2023.  

He said this while speaking to the media at Agartala railway station on the sidelines of the programme of President Droupadi Murmu, who flagged off two trains - an extension of the Agartala-Jiribam-Agartala Jan Shatabdi Express up to Khongsang and extended run of Guwahati-Kolkata-Guwahati Express up to Agartala.

“At war footing work for connecting all capital cities of Northeastern state by rail are going on and these are national projects under the Act East Policy. Some of the state capitals including Assam, Tripura, and Arunachal Pradesh are already connected. At present work is going on for connecting capitals of other states but except for the work of Meghalaya capital Shillong, work is progressing well in all these projects,'' Gupta added. 

''In Meghalaya, we could not start due to agitation of Khasi student unions which are not allowing railways to work but we are in touch with political leaders and civil bodies and trying to resolve the issues,” he said further.

He also said that the present target is to complete the work and reach Imphal, Aizawl, and Rangpo (in Sikkim) by December 2023, however, Kohima will be a little late and is likely to be completed only in March 2026 as the railway got the land very late and only in last year and from the state government.

The GM informed that besides interstate rail connectivity within the NE region, works for laying rail network with the Southeast Asian nations is also vital for India to achieve its target of a five trillion US dollar economy by the next few years.

“Southeast Asia rail connectivity project and especially with Akhawara and Chittagong in Bangladesh is very vital for the five trillion dollar economy that India is trying to achieve. By January 2023 work on the India side of the Agartala-Akhaura (India-Bangladesh in Tripura) railway connecting shall be completed and work on the Gangasagar side in Bangladesh is also progressing. Similarly, work is also fast progressing in Moreh in Manipur bordering Myanmar and some areas in Mizoram to connect to the Southeast Asian nations,” he added.

Commenting on the flagging off of the programme of trains today by the President, the GM said, “Today’s flagging off and other ongoing railways projects will help in various sectors including trade, connectivity, tourism, cultural and social bonding beside medical and education sectors.” 

Meantime, before flagging off the trains the President also inspected the Tripura-Manipur train’s vista dome compartment which has wide open glass windows so that passengers can view the spectacular natural beauty of the region.