Mairabari

Maligaon, 14^th April, 2023:

On this auspicious day of Bohag Bihu, Hon’ble Prime Minister Shri 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 14^th April, 2023. Shri Gulab Chand Kataria, Hon’ble Governor of Assam; Dr. Himanta Biswa Sarma, Hon’ble Chief Minister of Assam; Shri Sarbananda Sonowal, Hon’ble Union Minister of Ports, Shipping & Waterways and Ayush; Shri Rameswar Teli, Hon’ble Union Minister of State for Petroleum and Natural Gas and Labour & Employment and Shri Bimal Borah, Hon’ble Minister, Govt. of Assam were also present o­n the occasion.

Speaking o­n the occasion Hon’ble 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 Prime Minister highlighted that 5 railway projects that have been inaugurated today worth more than 6,000 crore rupees will accelerate the development of a large part of the region including Assam. The Prime Minister further 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. He also noted that traveling to places of faith and tourism will now become easy.

These newly constructed lines will change the rail transportation scenario o­n this area. More and more trains including trains carrying essential commodities will be able to reach the Northeastern states in a much lesser time from production centers spreading all over the country. The Digaru to Lumding 147 km long double line section was constructed at a cost of Rs. 2,538 crs. Construction of 17 Major Bridges, 106 Minor Bridges and 07 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 crs. 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 5 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 cr, it involves construction of 30 Major Bridges, 305 Minor Bridges, 03 tunnels, 133 Road Under Bridges and 02 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 Northeast to various metro cities like New Delhi, Chennai, Mumbai, Kolkata, Ahmedabad etc. Running of heavy hauled goods train towards Northeast became possible. Train operation cost also reduced significantly due to savings o­n fossil fuel consumption.

In order to minimize dependence o­n fossil fuels Indian Railways is working in mission mode to become the largest “GREEN RAILWAYS” in the world. 85% RKM of electrification works have been completed in entire Indian Railway network. In an endeavour for complete electrification, The Northeast Frontier Railway has completed electrification of over 132 route kilometres in the last three quarters of current financial year. N. F. Railway has achieved electrification of 1108 route kilometres which is 26.28% of total 4216 route kilometres of the network, as part of its target of achieving net zero carbon emission. 445 KM of railway tracks have been electrified in Assam. The zone plans to electrify its entire route kilometres by December, 2023.

        In a recent progress, section between Siliguri Jn - New Mal Jn (48 RKM) of Alipurduar Division, Siliguri Jn - Aluabari Road Jn via Bagdogra (74.17 RKM) of Katihar Division and Haibargaon - Mairabari (43.80 RKM) of Lumding Division have been electrified successfully. Nearly 80 pairs of mail/express trains and 03 pairs of passenger have been operated with electric engine either partially or fully over N. F. Railway upto December, 2022. While most of the above trains are running o­n electric engine end to end; about 18 pairs are running upto Guwahati, 05 pairs are running upto Kamakhya and 03 pairs are running upto Jagiroad o­n electric engine before switching over to diesel engine. With the recent electrification of the new sections the numbers of mail and passenger trains running o­n electric engine have increased.

Electrification will significantly improve the mobility of trains o­n NFR and strengthen the Rail network in north-eastern states.  In addition to the reduction in pollution, the financial performance of the Railway will also improve due to the shift from fossil fuel to electricity. This would also facilitate seamless traffic and also increase the average speed of trains resulting in punctuality of train movement.