Mega blocks from Oct 1 on Silchar-Lumding section – NFR to complete BG works by 2015

Mega blocks from Oct 1 on Silchar-Lumding section – NFR to complete BG works by 2015

Silchar (SCL):  The NF Railway will take mega blocks as scheduled from October 1 to complete the broad-gauge conversion on Silchar-Lumding by March next year.

This was announced by the DRM of Lumding division, Neeraj Kumar, at Badarpur, 24km from here, yesterday afternoon.

The completion of the project will allow people to come home during Pujas and Id by trains next year.

Earlier, there was speculation that laying of the rail tracks on the under-construction 201km-long broad gauge Silchar-Lumding section would begin on November 1.

Kumar said simultaneous work on the broad-gauge conversion of Karimganj- Agartala metre gauge line would be deferred to its second phase and the announcement about its possible date would be made at a later stage.

To operate the Karimganj-Agartala train, NF Railway will soon send 30 metre- gauge locomotives and about 100 coaches to Karimganj, the operating point and terminus.

Infrastructure like diesel shed, pit line and carriage and wagon departments will be shifted to Karimganj railway station from the railway depot in Badarpur by December 31.

Mega block in this line could begin from October 1, 2015 and be wrapped up by March 31, 2016, instead of the Railway Board’s earlier decision to begin it with the mega block of Silchar-Lumding line.

Sources said while work on Silchar-Lumding mega block is expected to proceed according to schedule, mega blocking of the Silchar-Agartala broad gauge route, which was expected to be done simultaneously, would be delayed because of shortage of staff.

The completion of the Silchar-Lumding mega block will facilitate communication between Guwahati and Cachar district for the 36 lakh people living in Barak valley in the project’s first phase. In the second phase, these benefits would be accorded to Tripura and Mizoram and part of Manipur.