7 Trains from (MRG)MARGHERITA to (DBY)DIGBOI

The General Manager of Northeast Frontier Railway Shri Anshul Gupta held a meeting with the Members of Parliament (MPs) whose constituencies are served by Rangiya and Lumding divisions, at Guwahati o­n 2^ndSeptember, 2022. Altogether ten MPs and three representatives of MPs were present at the meeting which included Hon’ble MPs of Rajya Sabha, Shri Bhubaneswar Kalita, Shri Birendra Prasad Baishya, Shri Rwngwra Narzary, Shri Pabitra Margherita from Assam; from Meghalaya Dr. Wanweiroy Kharlukhi; Hon’ble MPs of Lok Sabha Smt. Queen Oja (Guwahati), Shri C. Lalrosanga (Mizoram), Shri Larho S. Pfoze (Outer Manipur), Shri Horen Singh Bey (Diphu), Dr. Rajkumar Ranjan Singh, (Inner Manipur), Representative of Shri Dilip Saikia (Mangaldoi), Representative of Shri Kiren Rijiju, Hon’ble Union Cabinet Minister, Ministry of Law and Justice, Representative of Shri Abdul Khaleque (Barpeta).The Divisional Railway Manager of Rangiya, Shri V. K. Srivastava and Divisional Railway Manager of Lumding Shri J. S. Lakra along with senior railway officials of N. F. Railway Headquarters were also present.

The meeting was held to appraise the MPs about the developmental activities being carried out by the N. F. Railway and sought suggestions from all the public representatives present to further improve service of N. F. Railway.

The General Manager of N. F. Railway while welcoming all MPs highlighted the achievement of the entire NFR. The General Manager informed that N. F. Railway currently has 6829 TKm of railway network; further additional 1242 TKm will be added to this network of which works are under progress. The General Manager also said that various connectivity works are going o­n for further improvement of rail connectivity to the state capitals in the North-eastern region. As this zone serves as the gateway to the Southeast Asia, many other projects have also been undertaken to get it connected the Southeast Asia. This zone has the complex rail network stretching through the hilly terrain with the large number of tunnels, highest number of bridges and the longest elephant corridors across all the railway system.

The General Manager mentioned that N. F. Railway has given emphasis o­n faster adoption of PM Gati Shakti in NE states for handling of both outward and inward traffic so that rail, road and port get integrated. NFR expects to handle 65 million tonnes of traffic by the end of 2025 from 30 million tonnes handling presently. N. F. Railway has put efforts o­n various other developmental works to further increase capacity for movement of both passengers as well as goods traffic.

All the honourable MPs had very fruitful interactive session with the high railway officials. The MPs suggested extension and improvement of railway connectivity, upgradation of stations, and preservation of old heritage stations etc. MPs present thanked N. F. Railway officials for organising the meeting. The GM noted the suggestions given by the MPs and assured to implement the same to the extent feasible.

During the recently concluded financial year 2018-19, the operating performance of N.F. Railway showed significant improvement in most parameters in regards to passenger and goods operation segments. The achievements are given below in short:

Ø5 long distance trains running with conventional ICF model rakes have been replaced with more passenger friendly LHB model rakes. These are 22501 / 22502 New Tinsukia – Bangalore - New Tinsukia Express, 15621 / 15622 Kamakhya – Anand Vihar Express, 15619 / 15620 Kamakhya – Gaya Express, 12523 / 12524 New Jalpaiguri – New Delhi Express, 12505 / 12506 Northeast Express. With this a total of 7 rakes have been converted to LHB.

Ø7 new trains were introduced.

ØTerminals of two long distance trains have been changed for better maintenance.

Ø302 numbers coaches added during the period to clear rush of passenger.

ØJourney of 7 trains were extended to fulfil demand of passenger.

ØFrequency of 1 train was increased.

Ø24 new stoppages of various trains were provided at various stations.

In the Goods sector also, the overall performance showed marked improvement over last year. Some of them are given below:

ØThe average speed of Goods carrying trains increased by 4.7% over last year.

ØNew loading / un-loading terminals for Goods trains were opened at Bokajan, Digboi, Tetelia and Sorbhog stations during the year for ease of customers.

ØLoading of Gypsum increased by 21.4 % over last year.

ØLoading of Dolomite increased by 13.8 % over last year.

ØLoading of Fertiliser increased by 13.2 % over last year.

ØLoading of Container increased by 7.2 % over last year.

ØLoading of POL increased by 2.7 % over last year.