From our Staff Correspondent
Dibrugarh, Oct 8: North East Frontier Railway has started Diesel Electric Multiple Unit or DEMU train services to and from the historic Dibrugarh Town railway station. Two DEMU trains having 10 coaches each with metro-like ambience will connect Dibrugarh Town with Ledo and Dangari respectively two times daily henceforth. These DEMU trains have 10 coaches each and have engines incorporated in the coaches at the two extreme ends. DEMU trains are fuel efficient and take much less time for commencing a journey in comparison to normal passenger trains after arriving at a termiting station. This DEMU service seems to be a prelude to a formal sub-urban train service centreng Dibrugarh, necessitated mainly due to considerable progress of industry, education and healthcare in and around this premier urban centre of North East India.
The Assam Rail Passengers’ Association, keeping in view a large number of people coming from different places from the nearby districts of Guwahati and Dibrugarh respectively for official, education, healthcare, job, business, air-travel purposes, has been demanding since long the introduction of sub-urban train services with DEMU rake in these two prominent cities of the State. This demand got a boost with a considerable effort from Aneet Dulat, a popular railway official, during his tenure as the DRM of the Tinsukia Division, prior to his posting as the Chief Commercial Mager of the NF Railway at Maligaon.
It was a joyful moment for all at the historic Dibrugarh Town railway station as the first DEMU train hauled by the flower bedecked diesel locomotive, rolled down the tracks at the Platform No. 4 at 8:15 AM witnessed and welcomed by the railway officials and the office-bearers of the Assam Rail Passengers’ Association. Ramen Sengupta and Dayanda Singh, the president and the vice-president respectively of the Assam Rail Passengers’ Association’s Dibrugarh District Committee, felicitated Utpal Saikia, the superintendent of the Dibrugarh Town station and the drivers of the DEMU train with fulam gamosa.
bajyoti Borkakoty, the secretary of the Assam Rail Passengers’ Association Dibrugarh District Committee, welcomed all on the occasion and thanked the NF Railway authorities for introduction of the DEMU service.
Briefly mentioning the demands made by the ARPA’s Dibrugarh District Committee, Borkakoty said, “Among our demands, declaration of the Dibrugarh Town railway station as a heritage station and re-designing and redevelopment of the same as a world-class model station, DEMU train services from Simaluguri to Dibrugarh Town via mrup, Duliajan and from Dibrugarh Town to Simaluguri via Moranhat and Sivasagar, construction of foot-bridge at Dibrugarh Town station, survey of new railway line connecting Dibrugarh to Sapekhati via Rajgarh, stoppage of the 12235/36 Rajdhani Express at Sivasagar Town station and 12423/24 Rajdhani Express at the industrial town of Duliajan, giving full-rake status to 15606 Dibrugarh-Kamakhya intercity express and re-scheduling it to leave Dibrugarh at 5:30 PM instead of the present timing of 2:25 PM, construction of second platform at mrup station and stoppage of the 15909/10 Avadh Assam Express at harkatia are prominent.”