Boost to Indian Railways connectivity in Northeast! Now tavelling to and from Manipur to be easier as the state has made its debut on India’s rail map. Recently, the trial run of a passenger train from Silchar in Assam to Vangaichungpao in the Tamenglong district of Manipur was completed successfully. The minister said the rail service between the northeastern states of Manipur and Assam will ensure better connectivity and provide ease of travel to railway passengers. Manipur Chief Minister, N.Biren Singh said on his Twitter handle that it was a historic moment for the state as the first trial run of a passenger train was conducted from Silchar to Vaingaichunpao. Here, watch the video of the train’s trial run:

Last year, Goyal in a written reply to a question in the parliament had said that the Jiribam-Imphal (110.625 kilometre long) new line project was included in the Budget of 2003-04. The project’s anticipated cost is Rs 12,264 crore. Up to March 2020, Rs 10,089 crore expenditure has been incurred and Rs 800 crore outlay was provided for the financial year 2020-21. In March 2017, length of 12 km from Jiribam to Vangaichungpao was completed as well as commissioned and also, work was taken up in the available land. According to the minister, the Indian Railways’ Jiribam-Imphal new line is a challenging project in the young Himalayas’ hilly terrain, having 47 number of tunnels, 156 number of bridges including 141 metre high pier bridge, etc. In his reply, Goyal had also mentioned that the COVID-19 pandemic had adversely affected the progress of the work at the site.

In November 2019, the Railway Minister in a written reply to a question in Rajya Sabha had said that the government plans to connect all northeast state capitals (except Sikkim) with the Indian Railways network without public-private partnership (PPP) mode.