1 Trains from (MRG)MARGHERITA to (SZR)SARUPATHAR

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.

                           The following additional proactive measures have been taken by the Indian Railways in wake of COVID-19:

1.To discourage unnecessary travel and to prevent the vulnerable category of Senior Citizens from undertaking unnecessary travels, concessional booking of all tickets except Patients, students and Divyangjan category for Unreserved & Reserved segment are being suspended form 00:00 hrs of 20th March till further advisory.

2.As a precautionary measure and to discourage nonessential travel and overcrowding of trains, so far total 155 pairs of low occupancy trains are cancelled up to 31.03.20. NFR has also cancelled 16 pairs of trains with low occupancy(less than 30%). Trains are cancelled keeping in view the availability of alternate trains for passengers and ensuring that no passenger shall remain stranded. Full refund is being given to all the passengers whose train has been cancelled.

3.Indian Railways has also facilitated return of students stranded in Northern part of country due to sudden closure of Educational Institutions to their homes in Southern, North-Eastern and Eastern regions of India.

4.Advisories are being issued to passengers to avoid non-essential train journeys and to ensure that they do not have running fever while they are commencing the journey. At any point of journey if passenger feels that he is having fever, he can contact the Railway Staff for medical attention and further assistance.

5.To avoid unnecessary crowding at Railway Stations in wake of spread of COVID 19, it has been decided to raise the price of Platform Ticket wherever necessary. In NFR platform ticket prices of the following stations have been changed Rs. 50/- viz. Guwahati, Kamakhya, Dimapur, Lumding, Silchar, Rangiya, New Bongaigaon, Barpeta Road, Tinsukia, New Tinsukia, Dibrugarh Town, Dibrugarh, Simaluguri Jn., Mariani Jn., Jorhat Town and all station under Katihar division. Simmilarly price of platform tickets increased to Rs. 30/- in Agartala, Badarpur Jn., Bokajan, Chaparmukh Jn., Dharmanagar, Diphu, Hojai, Jagiroad, Karimganj Jn., Lanka and Sarupathar stations.

6.Regular Announcement are being done o­n PA System of Railway Stations & Trains to sensitize the public about various Do’s & Don’ts highlighting :

a)Keeping hands clean by frequent washing of hands;

b)Maintain social distance & covering the mouth while sneezing and coughing;

c)Precautions to be taken if o­ne has running fever-(don’t travel and report immediately to the Doctor);

d)Not spitting anywhere in the public place and Railway premises and

e)Avoid overcrowding & to ensure distancing between passengers in trains including local passenger trains.