3 Trains from (CPK)CHAPARMUKH JN to (KXJ)KARIMGANJ JN

Maligaon, 17^th May, 2023:

Northeast Frontier Railway (NFR) has been continuously striving to provide a safer, faster and more comfortable travelling experience to the people of the North Eastern region. For that the conventional ICF model rake of train no. 02502/02501 (Agartala – Kolkata - Agartala) special has been converted to a fully Air Conditioned LHB (Linke Hofmann Busch)rake. The train with LHB coaches was flagged off o­n 17^th May, 2023 from Agartala Railway Station at 07:30 hrs by Kumari Pratima Bhoumik, Hon’ble Union Minister of State for Social Justice and Empowerment. Shri Prem Ranjan Kumar, Divisional Railway Manager, Lumding along with other senior officials of division were also present at Agartala Railway Station during the flagging off ceremony.

The train no. 02502 (Agartala - Kolkata) special will depart from Agartala o­n every Wednesday for eight trips from 17^th May to 05^thJuly, 2023 at 07:30 hours to reach Kolkata at 15:00 hours o­n the next day. In return direction, train no. 02501 (Kolkata – Agartala) special will depart from Kolkata o­n every Sunday for eight trips from 21^st May to 09^thJuly, 2023 at 21:40 hours to reach Agartala at 05:15 hours o­n Tuesday.

During it’s both ways journey, the special train will run via New Karimganj Jn., New Haflong, Guwahati, Goalpara Town, New Alipurduar, New Jalpaiguri Jn, Kishanganj, Malda Town, Azimganj Jn and Bandel Jn. The train will run with a revised composition consisting of 13 LHB coaches. It will have eleven state of the art AC-3 Economy Class coaches for the convenience of the passengers with two Luggage cum Generator coaches.

The newly converted coaches will be of LHB rake with AC-3 Economy coaches which is safer and more comfortable as compared to the earlier ICF coaches. These coaches have improved and modular design of seats and berth. The AC-3 Economy has 2 side berths, making it a total of 8 berths per compartment, thereby leading to increased number of seats. Moreover, the fare structure for AC-3 Economy is roughly 8% lesser than 3 AC coaches. So, passengers can travel in much cheaper than 3 AC coaches.

Further, the services of train no. 02518/02517 (Guwahati – Kolkata – Guwahati) has been extended for another eight trips. The train no. 02518 (Guwahati - Kolkata) special will depart from Guwahati o­n every Saturday for eight trips from 20^th May to 08^th July, 2023 at 21:00 hours to reach Kolkata at 15:00 hours o­n the next day. In return direction, train no. 02517 (Kolkata – Guwahati) special will depart from Kolkata o­n every Thursday for eight trips from 18^th May to 06^th July, 2023 at 21:40 hours to reach Guwahati at 16:15 hours o­n the next day.

The details of stoppages and timings of these trains are available at IRCTC website and through NTES and are also being notified in various newspapers and social media platforms of N.F. Railway. Passengers are requested to verify the details before undertaking their journey.

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.