Resumption of trains withdrawn since Covid outbreak: ARPA moves MLAs and MPs

 STAFF REPORTER

GUWAHATI: The Assam Rail Passengers' Association (ARPA) has moved the State MLAs (Members of Legislative Assembly) and the MPs (Members of Parliament) from Assam, requesting them to raise the resumption of various trains to and from Assam that were withdrawn since the COVID-19 outbreak before the State Assembly and the Ministry of Railways.

The ARPA is an organisation of the people of Assam working as a pressure group with the objective of securing better train services and improved railway infrastructure to adequately serve the purpose of an affordable, safe, and comfortable mode of transport for the general public of the state.

Various withdrawn trains that the ARPA requested to the MLAs and MPs to raise for resumption in their respective forums are: (i) 55818 Guwahati-New Bongaigaon Passenger; (ii) 15771 Alipurduar-Guwahati Intercity Express; (iii) 55903 Dimapur-Mariani Passenger; (iv) 75906 Dibrugarh Town-Ledo DEMU (Morning service); (morning service); (v) 05819 Dibrugarh-Dekargaon (Tezpur) Intercity Express; (vi) 12525 Dibrugarh-Kofast Express; and (vii) 12086 Dibrugarh-Guwahati Shatabdi Shatabdi Shatabdi Shatabdi Shatabdi

The ARPA said that all the stops that have been withdrawn after the lockdown must be restored without further delay, besides the Railway authorities reverting to the pre-Covid train fares.

Speaking to The Sentinel, ARPA general secretary Dipankar Sharma said that NF Railway had already sent the clearance of approved stops to the Railway Board. The approved stops, whose proposals have been sent to the Railway Board, are: (i) Rajdhani Express (RE) 12423/24 stoppage at Rangia Junction for final clearance in 2009. Even after 14 years, the Railway Board has yet to sanction the same. (ii) Similarly, the proposal for the Rajdhani Express (RE) 20505/06 stoppage at Dhemaji was sent by the NF Railway more than a year ago, in March 2022. The Railway Board has not sanctioned this proposal yet. (iii) Many other stoppage proposals for Kokrajhar, Gosaigaon, Fakiragram, Sapatgram, Mazbat, Khairabari, Nalbari, etc. are pending before the ED (Coaching) of the Railway Board. This apathy of the Railway Board, particularly towards the people of Assam, is highly disappointing."

The other proposals, according to Sharma, are the extension of trains: (i) Silchar-Guwahati services need to be extended up to New Bongaigaon, Rangia Junction, or Rangapara North so that lower Assam passengers can avoid coming to Guwahati to board this train; and (ii) the 05810 Guwahati-New Bongaigaon passenger train needs to be extended up to Gosaigaon or Golakganj junction at the earliest. It also raised the demand for increasing the frequency of the 15641/42 Barak Brahmaputra Express from weekly to daily.

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