Demand for alternative rail track gains momentum in Barak

A CORRESPONDENT

SILCHAR: 10 years after the broad gauge line was made operational in the hilly track of the NF railway, the Silchar-Lumding broad gauge implementation committee once again came out to the street, with the demand for an alternative rail track between Silchar and Lanka.

On Saturday, the committee staged a demonstration at the Silchar railway station premise demanding accelerated progress in the proposed alternative broad gauge line. Recent landslides had badly disrupted train movement in the hill section. Silchar-Shillong and Silchar-Haflong roads were also closed for a long period following the landslides. The entire Barak Valley was virtually cut off from the rest of the state.

It is to be noted that the Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw had assured Rajya Sabha MP Kanad Purkayastha that within next six months, the proposed alternative rail route would get the Cabinet approval. On the other hand, the NF railway General Manager Chetan Srivastava informed Purkayastha that the Rs 25 thousand crore DPR of the proposed rail route had been finalized and would be placed before the railway board very soon.

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