Title - Lumding-Silchar broad gauge by next year Northeast Frontier Railway

SILCHAR: Northeast Frontier Railway (NFR) general manager Ranjit Singh Virdi said work on the Lumding-Silchar broad gauge project will be completed by December, 2013. He added work on the 214-km conversion project is progressing in line with the planning of the Railways and it would be completed as per the fresh timeframe.

"The mega project, the foundation for which was laid in 1996, has borne the brunt of logistical problems over the years. But these problems have by and large been resolved and the project will be completed within the fresh timeframe as laid down by the NFR officials. I am confident that it will be commissioned by January 2014," the GM said.

Talking to mediapersons during his visit to Tripura and southern Assam to take stock of the progress of railway projects and services last week, Virdi said the longest tunnel in the section is tunnel no. 10 with a length of 3,235 metre and work is in progress on both sides. Completion of the tunnel is expected by October 2013. Tunnel no. 10 has remained a bone of contention given the adverse geological phenomena in this part of Barail Hills, he added.

When asked about the poor railway services in southern Assam, Tripura and Mizoram, Virdi said once work on the broad gauge is completed, things will be much better. He said non-availability of metre gauge compartments is the cause behind the poor condition of the compartments in trains running in the Agartala-Silchar-Lumding sections. Once broad gauge is ready, there will be no scarcity of compartments, he explained.

The general manager added that work for turning the Silchar railway station into a model station as per the provisions of the earlier railway budget will be taken up only after the broad gauge between Lumding and Silchar is completed. He said more trains too will be introduced between Agartala-Silchar, Silchar-Lumding and Silchar-Karimganj as per the growing demand of passengers after the project is commissioned.

A number of organizations including NF Railway Mazdoor Union, NF Railway Employees Union and political parties demanded a new railway division based at Badarpur in Barak Valley.

Railway sources said Lumding-Silchar-Jiribam-Badarpur-Kumarghat gauge conversion project (Lumding-Silchar is 214-km) which is 368.46 km long, was sanctioned in 1996-97. The Rs 4073.50 crore project was declared a national project in 2004.