STAFF REPORTER
GUWAHATI: The Assam Rail Passengers' Association (ARPA) has urged and demanded the Northeast Frontier Railway (NFR) to dedicate a line for local trains on completed double-line tracks. ARPA general secretary Dipankar Sharma said, "From New Bongaigaon to Agythuri, the 143-km stretch of decade-old railway single line is now a double line one. Naturally, a number of railway lines are expected to be doubled now. Whenever we asked the NFR authority to provide more local trains for local people in the recent past for their day-to-day activities, the stereotype answer from their end was line constraints."
"Thus we lost our valuable time. Can we expect now the resumption of all those trains that have been cancelled? Have you got any proposals for Electric Multiple Unit (EMU) or Mainline Electric Multiple Unit (MEMU)?" Sharma questioned the NFR authorities,
Sharma emphasized, "People of Assam have been repeatedly requesting for the restart of essential trains like Guwahati-New Bongaingaon, APDJ-GHY, Dibrugarh-Ledo morning Diesel-Electric Multiple Unit (DEMU), Dibrugarh-Dekargaon IC (intercity), Dibrugarh-Kolkata superfast, Dimapur-Mariani Passenger, etc., for many years. A sensitive administration should consider such requirements. However, a question remains: "Have you doubled the train holding capacity of your major stations like Sorbhog, Barpeta Road, Pathsala, Tihu, Nalbari, and Rangia? This is because, at Rangiya, it is found that platform No. 2, the vital one for up trains, has been converted to a mainline. So, the number of platforms has gone down rather. A minimum of nine platforms are required, keeping the necessity of the RANGAPARA line into consideration. Shifting the goods to a better place, the location can be utilized as a suburban terminal for local people. In other places like Hyderabad, Sealdah, and Chennai, one dedicated side has been provided for local trains only. Perhaps we can expect such a facility in our state in 2024, at least."
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