BADARPUR JN

On 12^th of July the extensive damage caused by landslide to railway track at km 110 near Jatinga Lumpur of Lumding Badarpur section resulted in the disruption of railway traffic in this crucial section.

          Immediately after the damage was reported railway arranged for mobilization of material manpower and machinery at site without losing any time. Senior officials of Lumding Division and Headquarter including the Chief Bridge Engineer and Divisional Railway Manager reached the site for monitoring the restoration of work and 24x7 control rooms were set up both at Maligaon and at Lumding for ensuring close monitoring and speedy mobilization of resources. The extent of damage was so huge that almost 100 running meter of track was damaged caused by the failure of the slope of the railway embankment. Although it was raining continuously as many as 500 labourers in two shifts of 12 hrs each worked continuously during the day time and almost 200 labourers worked during the night without stop. A total of 8 Earthmoving machines and Dumpers were also mobilized at site which worked continuously throughout the day and nights.

          It is to be mentioned that for the stabilization of the slope a volume of 4750 Cum of boulder has been mobilized by means of special material trains which carried boulder from different locations at Lumding Division to the damaged spot. Since these boulders were readily available for loading as part of pre monsoon preparation of railway, no time was lost for the collection and dispatch of these boulders to site. For the stabilization of the sub-base of the track a volume of 100 Cum of unscreened shingle was also mobilized at the site along with 2050 running meter of rail pile for the stabilization of the bank and the toe. To ensure adequate strengthening of the base of the railway track, non permeable, Geo-Textile has been laid o­n the entire damage length. The track which was damaged has been now fully linked and ballasting is being done to bring it to the requisite standard for the safe passage of trains.

Railway Minister Shri Piyush Goyal has issued instructions to introduce vistadome coaches in trains running in routes having scenic beauty. The instructions were issued during a review meeting at N.F. Railway HQ. The Minister stated that such coaches, which allow an open to sky view of the surroundings would add value to rail travel and help people to better enjoy the scenic beauty that Northeast India is famous for.

Vistadome coaches are designed to let the passengers enjoy the beautiful sceneries through an all glass roof. These coaches are designed to let passengers enjoy nature in its full glory. So passengers are able to enjoy the aesthetic landscape with better vision through the glass top ceiling of the coaches. This would boost tourism in Northeast India and will attract tourists from both inside and outside the country.

It may be mentioned that, Northeast Frontier Railway has already introduced a vistadome coach in the UNESCO World Heritage Darjeeling Himalayan Railway. This has become immensely popular amongst tourist. The vistadome coaches in DHR also boast of other features like automatic sliding compartment doors, multiple television screens providing infotainment to passengers; wide side door for Divyangs, GPS based info system, LED lights and more. Vistadomecoaches have also been introduced in Kalka – Simla Railway, Jan Shatabdi Express plying o­n the Mumbai - Goa routeand Visakhapatnam-Araku rail route. In Lumding – Badarpur hill section, Kumarghat – Agartala hill section certain sections of upper Assam, Dooars portion of north Bengal are areas of very great scenic beauty. These sections would be chosen for introduction of vistadome coaches in N.F. Railway.