NF Railway's Project of Doubling of Lanes Moving at Snail’s Pace

Railway projects in Assam

Staff Reporter

GUWAHATI, Sept 2: The ongoing projects under NF Railway in Assam have been in the slow lane. The physical progress reports of some of them, as on July 31, 2018, are zero.

NF Railway has as many as 43 projects – 25 new line projects, seven gauge conversion projects and 11 projects of doubling lanes. The physical progress of doubling the lanes of the 142-km New Bongaigaon-Rangiya-Kamapkya line and the seven-km New Saraighat bridge is zero. The 176-km project for doubling the lane of Bongaigaon-Goalpara-Guwahati line is also at the preliminary stage, with the progress report being just 2.47 per cent.

According to information received from officials in NF Railway (Construction), works of the Saraighat bridge (doubling) project that have been done so far are the survey, preparation of the detailed project report (DPR) and sending of an estimated cost of Rs 1099.07 crore to the Finance headquarters for examination. The budgetary inclusion of the project was made in 2017-18 with an anticipated cost of Rs 888.32 crore, leading to the allotment of Rs 20.10 crore in the Budget of 2018-19.

The New Bongaigaon-Rangiya-Kamakhya lane-doubling project that was included in the Budget in 2013-14 and sanctioned in 2017 is yet to get approval from the Planning Commission and clearance from the Cabinet Committee of Economic Affairs (CCEA). An estimated cost of Rs 2496.67 crore of the project has been submitted to the Railway Board. However, sanction from the Railway Board is still awaited.

The Bongaigaon-Goalpara-Guwahati project for doubling the lane is of fiscal 2015-16 with an anticipated cost of Rs 2,182 crore. The foundation stone of this project was laid at Maligaon in Guwahati in October 2016. The 2.47 per cent physical progress of this project includes tendering and allocation of works like bridges, earthwork, station buildings etc.

Doubling the railway lanes from New Bongaigaon to Guwahati has been a long-standing demand from the people of the Northeast. What seems set to spell doom for the long-felt aspirations of improved railway connectivity to the Northeast is: the abysmally slow progress of the projects.