Gogoi sends proposal for inclusion into Rail Budget

By our Staff Reporter

GUWAHATI, Feb 12: Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi has sent a slew of proposals to the Union Railway Minister for inclusion in the Rail Budget, 2016-17 to be announced soon.

Gogoi has sought the Union ministry to expedite the ongoing doubling of the railway stretch between New Bongaigaon and Kamakhya (Guwahati), besides  double tracking of the railway lines from Guwahati to Tinsukia. He has also sought electrification of the Railway tracks in the State.

Gogoi has also sought introduction of very fast daily express trains with limited stops outside Assam from Dibrugarh/Guwahati to Mumbai/Pune in the West; Vellore/ Cheni/, Bangalore, Trivandrurn/ Kochi in the South; and Amritsar/ Jammu in the North. A Shatabdi Train from Silchar to Guwahati and a Rajdhani Express from Silchar to New Delhi have also been sought. The North East Express that origites from Guwahati can also be extended to Silchar, Gogoi said, and added that the speed of the trains that origite from Tinsukia/ Dibrugarh and travel across the eastern and southern parts of the country right up to Kanyakumari has to be increased as they are the longest travel in the Indian Railway network. Adequate security arrangement should also be put in place in all trains running between Assam and other states of the country, he said.

Since Railway is the only lifeline for the poor students of Assam to travel to Delhi and other metros for pursuing higher studies, Gogoi said, a system of  concession for such students may be introduced.

Apart from speeding up the works of the Bogibeel Rail-cum-Road Bridge, Gogoi has sought augmentation of the existing Saraighat rail bridge with a parallel one.

A railway line from Silghat to Balipar via Tezpur with a railway bridge over the Brahmaputra, modernization of Guwahati Railway Station, a separate zone for the NF Railway and the introduction of a special train so as to showcase the cultural heritage of Assam are some of the proposals sent by Gogoi to the Union ministry.