A fast mode of mass transport does have a correlation to and is commensurate with and also is a benchmark for economic development as well as an effective tool at the hands of any progressive government seeking faster economic growth with a view to ensuring a better quality of life for its citizens.
Over the years, trains have become the most used and trusted mode of mass transport, which is an affordable, convenient, and safe affair connecting individuals, families, communities, and societies in different parts of India—serving, promoting, enhancing, and, most importantly, acting as a cohesive force in the diverse social, ethnic, religious, linguistic, and geographically separated colourful fabric of India. Indian Railways has witnessed phenomenal growth when it comes to speed, ensuring safety, comfort, punctuality, modern infrastructure, and, above all, its continuous efforts to keep pace with growing domestic demand. As an effective tool to sustain the economic boom that India has experienced most significantly in the last decade, with its GDP projected to cross the $10 trillion mark in less than seven years, Indian Railways is poised to enter the era of high-speed rail transport, starting with the 508 km Ahmedabad-Mumbai high-speed rail corridor, which is expected to make its first operational run in 2027 and be fully operational by March 2028. On the anvil are high-speed rail projects like Delhi – Ahmedabad, Delhi – Varanasi, Varanasi – Patna, Patna – Kolkata, Patna – Guwahati, etc.
After the incorporation of the Assam Railways and Trading Co. Ltd in London in 1881, the first railway locomotive rolled down the newly laid metre-gauge tracks from Steamerghat to Reahabari station (presently Dibrugarh Town station) on the 1st of May, 1882. On the other hand, Dibrugarh had already become the nerve centre of Assam’s coal and tea industry, with ships from England docking at the Steamerghat riverport in Dibrumukh, where the Dibru river meets the mighty Brahmaputra; by the late nineteenth century, it had also established itself as an important centre of trade and commerce, participating in both national and international trade. This growing importance of Dibrugarh was fortified with the laying of the railway line, connecting Steamerghat and Reahabari (now Dibrugarh Town) with Dinjan, some 30 km to the east. For looking after the maintenance of the bogies and the locomotives, a railway workshop was also established at Steamerghat. Less than two decades previously, oil was first discovered in 1866 near Jeypore, 44 km east of Dibrugarh. Again, in 1889, the Assam Railways & Trading Company struck oil in Digboi, initiating commercial production of crude oil, and in 1899, the Assam Oil Company (AOC) was formed. After two years, Asia’s first oil refinery was commissioned at Digboi in 1901. The Berry White Medical School was established in Dibrugarh just a year earlier in 1900, and these developments ushered in a new era of industrial and economic development as well as an era of medical education in Assam. Since then, Dibrugarh has become the hub of industrial and economic activities with growing prominence at the state as well as national level as an industrial, economic, commercial, educational, medical and communication hub of Assam, contributing handsomely to the economic growth of the state in particular and Northeast India in general.
Recently, the establishment of the Chief Minister’s secretariat and the declaration of Dibrugarh as the second capital by the Government of Assam have validated this prominence and also given the city its due recognition as an administrative hub. Dibrugarh is already an important railway hub of Northeast India, with trains like the Dibrugarh to Kanyakumari Vivek Express, two daily Rajdhani Express trains, the Dibrugarh to Mumbai LTT Express, the Dibrugarh to Lalgarh Avadh Assam Express, etc., originating and terminating at the station. Although the Rajdhani Express from Dibrugarh to New Delhi has already started to run on electric traction and with new-generation LHB rakes, it’s a pity that we are yet to see a railway track connecting the main cities of Assam. Presently, the railway distance between Guwahati and Dibrugarh is 508 km via Sivasagar Town and Moranhat and 556 km via Naharkatia and New Tinsukia, whereas the road distance between the two cities is 443 km via NH715. This has resulted in the severe constraint of unnecessarily excess travel time and suffering on the part of the rail passengers.
The idea of an motorway connecting Dibrugarh and Guwahati, which had been mooted by the former CM of Assam and union cabinet minister Sarbananda Sonowal, has been taken up in the right earnest by present CM Dr Himanta Biswa Sarma for bringing it up as a reality, which when completed would reduce the travel time between the two capital cities of Assam to half the time required at present. There is also a popular demand from many quarters for a direct rail link between Guwahati and Dibrugarh connecting Sivasagar, Jorhat, Golaghat and Nagaon, unlike the NH715 (formerly NH37) on the south bank of the Brahmaputra. Furthermore, the construction of a high-speed rail corridor along the same alignment between Guwahati and Dibrugarh could potentially cut down the train travel time to just two hours. For this, the govt of Assam needs to submit a proposal to the Ministry of Railways, Govt of India, for the extension of the proposed Patna–Guwahati high-speed rail corridor to Dibrugarh in the far east. Such a project, squarely justifiable from the economic and industrial potential that Assam holds, would surely be a shot in the arm of a progressive state government working relentlessly at transforming Assam into an economic superpower and ensuring its place amongst the most developed states of the country. The Act East Policy of the Government of India, if applied in the right earnest, should translate this project into reality sooner than we think.
Late Nabajyoti Borkakoty,
Chiring Chapori, Dibrugarh
(With the writer of this letter passing away on January 13, 2026, without submitting it to the Chief Minister, his wife, Munmi Borah, sent it to The Sentinel for publication.)