Assam chief minister Tarun Gogoi on Monday asked Union railway minister Mamata Banerjee to create a new railway zone exclusively for the Northeastern region and expedite double-tracking of the only railway track in Assam.
Gogoi asked her to include the proposal in her budget ?in the interests of the Northeast region and its people.? Poor connectivity was one reason behind the region?s backwardness and creation of a separate railway zone would immensely help in improving the situation, he said.
Assam and the Northeastern region is at present covered by the Northeast Frontier Railways with headquarters in Guwahati. But, with at least two of its divisions situated in Bihar and West Bengal, the region often complains of disparity in planning as well as manpower recruitment.
Gogoi also requested introduction of daily Duronto trains on the Guwahati-Delhi, Guwahati-Bangalore and Guwahati-Kolkata routes, superfast trains between Guwahati and Mumbai via Nagpur, between Guwahati and Goa and between Dibrugarh and Thiruvananthapuram.
He also asked the railway minister for electrification of railway lines between Bongaigaon and Dibrugarh and doubling the railway track connecting the Northeast with rest of the country.