In two historic moves by Indian Railways, Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu today laid the foundation stone of the proposed Imphal railway station, and also announced the commencement of work for the longest rail tunnel in India. The proposed Imphal railway station is located about 13 km from the centre of Imphal, in Yurembam village. Its distance from the airport is 1.5 km. According to Indian Railways, the overall cost of construction of the station Building will be roughly Rs 8.7 crore. The station will also boast of a maintenance shed and will serve as the termination point for all trains. It will have three passenger platforms.
Says Ved Prakash, Director Information & Publicity at Ministry of Railways, “The idea of the station, the tunnel, and all other facilities is in line with PM Narendra Modi’s vision of connecting the state of Manipur and all of North-East to the rest of India through a good railway network.” “The station’s proposed design and architecture are a tribute to the cultural heritage of the place,” he tells FE Online. The design od the station incorporates the architectural elements of Kangla Fort Gate and Shri Govindji Temple – two historical monuments of Manipur.
The longest railway tunnel in India will come up on the Jiribam–Tupul–Imphal new broad gauge railway line. It will be 11.55 km long, more than the famous Pir Panjal tunnel on the Banihal-Qazigund line. The 111-km long Jiribam–Tupul–Imphal new broad gauge railway project was taken up in 2008 and was declared a National Project owing to its importance. On this stretch, the 12.5 km Jiribam to Dholakhal section has been completed and commissioned for freight train in March 2016. For the 84 km Jiribam–Tupul section, 25 out of 37 tunnels have been completed by April end this year. Yet another feature of this stretch is the fact that the world’s tallest girder rail bridge will be constructed over Iring river, with a pier height of 141 metres. This, the Indian Railways says is almost equal to two Qutub Minars stacked over each other.
Suresh Prabhu has said that connectivity is the “prime driver of development”. “The Railway Ministry will not spare any resources for bringing in speedy development of rail connectivity in the region,” Prabhu said today, adding that Indian Railways has taken a “holistic approach” towards development. Prabhu feels that the new broad gauge railway line from Jiribam to Imphal will not only connect Imphal to the rest of the country but also open up new vistas for economic development of the region.
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That rail connectivity to North-East is big on the government’s agenda has time and again been reiterated by PM Narendra Modi. In the North East, the Indian Railways has commissioned about 900 kilometres of Broad Gauge in the last two years, leaving only about 50 kilometres Meter Gauge lines to be converted in 2016-17. Recently, MoS for Railways Rajen Gohain said that expansion of rail connectivity in the entire North-East will be top priority.