OUR CORRESPONDENT
BONGAIGAON: The All Assam Railway Passengers’ Association has demanded the creation of a new railway zone covering all seven North-Eastern states, alleging long-standing neglect of the region’s railway development despite repeated claims by national and state leaders.
The association argued that forming a new zone by combining the Tinsukia, Lumding, and Rangiya divisions would help accelerate socio-economic growth and generate employment for lakhs of youths. It proposed setting up the new division including Barak Velly and neighbouring states and establishing headquarters at Badarpur to ensure better connectivity for Assam, Tripura, Mizoram, and Manipur.
General secretary Dipankar Sharma expressed serious concern over the slow progress of Railway infrastructure in the region. He highlighted that several projects approved in the 2017 Rail Budget, including Tezpur–Silghat, Salona–Khumtai, Jorhat–Sivasagar, and the Dekargaon–Tezpur extension, have yet to begin work. He also questioned the delay in constructing the railway line to the pilgrimage site Parshuram Kund in Arunachal Pradesh.
Sharma said that timely completion of these projects would have boosted connectivity and economic activity across Upper Assam, including Tinsukia, Dibrugarh, Jorhat, and Guwahati. He added that the Northeast had vast potential for tourism development through improved railway services.
The association also demanded the immediate restoration of key train services suspended during the COVID-19 period, such as the Mariani–Dimapur passenger, Dibrugarh–Kolkata Superfast, Kamakhya–Alipurduar Intercity, Dibrugarh–Ledo DEMU, Dibrugarh–Dekargaon Express, and the Dibrugarh–Guwahati Shatabdi.
It further criticized the failure to extend trains like the Brahmaputra Express to Dibrugarh and the NJP–Bongaigaon Intercity to Rangiya, and sought new premium trains from Assam to cities like Kolkata, Chennai, Hyderabad, Mumbai, and Bengaluru.
The association stressed the need for more intercity trains from Sivasagar, Jorhat, Dhemaji, and Dhubri to Guwahati, as well as new terminal stations at New Guwahati, Narengi, Agyathuri, Sangsari, Azara, and several points under the Tinsukia division including Dangori.
The association also lamented that although railway electrification in the region was nearly complete, EMU/MEMU suburban services had not been introduced yet.
A memorandum detailing these demands has already been sent to Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw through the NF Railway General Manager, Sharma added.
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