3 Trains from (SPTR)SILAPATHAR to (MZS)MURKEONGSELEK

Arunachal Pradesh, the land of the rising sun, is o­ne of the Northeastern seven sister states. This is o­ne of the most picturesque places in India. This state has the power to become a tourism hub. Working in this direction, Northeast Frontier Railway has done a tremendous amount of infrastructure development in this state. Itanagar, the capital city, became the second o­nly state capital among the eight north eastern states after Guwahati to be o­n the railway map when in 2018 the first Broad guage passenger train chugged into Naharlagun station.

Northeast Frontier Railway (NFR) has undertaken many other developmental and infrastructural initiatives in Arunachal Pradesh to boost tourism and improve connectivity during the period 2014-22. The Murkongselek - Pasighat new line (26.15 km), at a cost of Rs 661 crore, has been sanctioned for execution. Surveys for more new broad gauge lines are going o­n. Some  important surveys  like the Lekhapani to Deban via Nampong (75 km) ;  Dumduma to Wakro ( 96 km)  via Simulguri, Namsai and Chowkham; Dangri to Roing( 60 km) & Tinsukia ( Longpatia ) to Pasighat (300 km) via Kanubari, Deomali, Lekhapani, Jairampur, Kharsang, Miao, Diyu, Tezu, Bhismaknagar, Roing and Dambuk ; Dhalai Beel to Seijosa via Itakhola (18 km );  Naharkatia to Deomali  (20 km ); Misamari (Bhalukpong) to Tawang (198 km) via Tenga; North Lakhimpur to Bame via Silapathar  ( 87 km  ); Pasighat to Rupai via Tezu  (217.8 km) and  Lekhapani and Kharsang (26.2 km) are going o­n in full swing.Once completed, these new lines will spearhead the eventual socio-economic boom in the state.

Apart from these new lines survey, other basic Railway infrastructures have also been augmented in Arunachal Pradesh. New Coaching Maintenance Depot was set up and commissioned at Naharlagun in March, 2020. Mechanised cleaning of Naharlagun station started from 2018-19. Toilets for Divyangjan have been provided at Gumto, Naharlagun and Bhalukpong stations. Train Indication Board, Coach Indication Board and Integrated Passenger Information System are provided at these stations. Passenger Reservation System, Unreserved Ticketing System and Free high speed Wi-Fi are also provided at nominated stations of Arunachal Pradesh. Point of sale machines for cash-less transactions were installed in Naharlagun and Bhalukpong stations. As a part of NFR’s Go-Green mission Naharlagun, Bhalukpong and Gumto stations have been provided with 100% LED lights during 2017-18. o­ne 10 kwP solar power plant has also been installed in Naharlagun during 2018-19.

Naharlagun station was opened to both outward and inward goods traffic for ease of freight transportation. 55 freight trains arrived in Arunachal Pradesh with essential commodities and 39 parcel vans were loaded with various commodities for Arunachal Pradesh during 2021-22.

Railway Minister Shri Piyush Goyal today flagged off a new passenger train between Murkongselek and Dibrugarh via remote from New Delhi. Nine other similar trains in various parts of the country were also flagged of at the same time by the Railway Minister through video conferencing. A programme was also held at Murkongselek during flagging off of the train.

This new train service has been named as “Sewa Service” with an aim to provide comfortable journey by train for people belonging to smaller towns so that they can easily reach bigger nearby cities for their day to day work. With the introduction of this new train a long standing need of the people of this region stands fulfilled. This will also help reducing the road traffic congestion. Better train connectivity will not o­nly help in development of the economic scenario but also prove to be very much beneficial for students, office goers and petty traders of the route.

New passenger train bearing number 55606 will leave from Murkongselek at 08-45 am daily to reach Dibrugarh at 12-15 pm. During return journey train number 55605 will start from Dibrugarh at 01-15 pm to reach Murkongselek at 04-45 pm. The train will have sleeper class and general second class facilities. During its journey the train will have stoppages at Dhamalgaon, Tangani, New Sisibargaon, Sripani, Sisibargaon, Silapathar, Archipathar, Dipa, Simenchapari, Telem, Laimekuri and Jone Karrang stations both ways. Regular service of the train will start from 16^th October, 2019. This train will provide last mile connectivity to the people of this region, reducing the distance for development.