6 Months’ Time For Broad Gauge Conversion

Silchar/Agartala: Tripura, Mizoram, western Manipur and the Barak Valley in Assam will bid adieu to their metre gauge rail lines within the next three days when mega block on the Lumding-Silchar section starts. This is to facilitate conversion of the 201-km metre gauge section to broad gauge over a period of six months.
Northeast Frontier Railway (NFR) sources said services of 27 trains on the metre gauge section will be phased out over the next three days from September 28.While four trains will be withdrawn on September 28, 11 trains on September 29, services of 12 trains will be withdrawn on September 30.
The Silchar-Lumding section has 37 tunnels, 586 bridges and 24 stations on the way through the difficult hilly terrain of Dima Hasao district with the steepest gradient on the Harangajao-Jatinga section. Once the stretch is converted into broad gauge, the route will have 20 tunnels.
While announcing suspension of train services from Lumding to Silchar and Agartala from Sunday, the NFR has decided to run a special pair trains between Karimganj and Agartala from October 1.
The NFR general manager (operation) issued a notification on Saturday wherein he stated that a special pair of passenger trains will start from Agartala and Karimganj at 9.30 am everyday and reach their destinations at 5.30 pm the same day. Similarly, a train will leave Agartala at 9.40 am and will reach Karimganj at 5 pm.
“The trains will have five compartments and would be able to carry about 500-700 passengers per fleet both ways. This will also reduce passenger pressure on NH-44. At present, six trains in both the directions are carrying about 12,000-15,000 commuters daily,” a senior NFR official said.
The NFR is suspending train services from Lumding to Silchar, Bhairavi (Mizoram), Badarpur and Agartala routes for gauge conversion work. The mega block activity between Lumding and Silchar is in its first phase. In the second phase, the work will be between Badarpur and Agartala, scheduled from October 2015 for another six months.
The Tripura government has been asking for mega block work up to Agartala by employing additional manpower, so that the entire work is completed by March 2015 between Lumding, Silchar and Agartala.
Suspension of railway services will affect transportation of goods, including food grains and essential items, to Tripura, Mizoram, Manipur and southern Assam.