Ministry of Railways has been laying great emphasis on improvement in Railway infrastructure in the North-eastern region.
North Eastern Region is served by Northeast Frontier Railway consisting of 8 states i.e. Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram, Tripura, Meghalaya and Sikkim.
Out of 8 States of North Eastern Region, rail network connectivity now exists in 7 States. For, Sikkim, the new line project Sivok-Rangpo (44 km) has been sanctioned.
First of all, entire metre-gauge section in North-east region has been fully converted into broad-gauge line.
In last 3 years, following major developments have taken place in North Eastern Region:
(i) Naharlagun which is 10 km short of Itanagar, the capital of Arunachal Pradesh, has been connected to the National Capital by a direct train.
(ii) With commissioning of Balipara-Bhalukpong line after gauge conversion, Arunachal Pradesh have been provided with second Broad Gauge connectivity.
(iii) Entire track on North Bank of Brahmaputra, running very close to Assam-Arunachal border, has been connected to Broad Gauge with commissioning of Rangiya-Murkongselek Broad Gauge line.
(iv) Meghalaya has been brought on railway map of the country with commissioning of Dudhnoi-Mendipathar railway line.
(v) With commissioning of Lumding-Silchar Broad Gauge line, the Barak Valley has been brought on Broad Gauge network of the country.
(vi) Agartala, the capital of Tripura has been brought on Broad Gauge network.
(vii) With commissioning of Gauge Conversion of Arunachal-Jiribam section, Manipur state has also been connected with Broad Gauge network.
(viii) With commissioning of Kathakal – Bhairabi Gauge conversion, the State of Mizoram has come on Broad Gauge network.
(ix) Around 900 km of Metre Gauge has been converted into Broad Gauge. Now, no metre gauge line exists in the North-eastern region.
(x) 29 new train services have been added in the North Eastern Region.
20 major railway projects consisting of 12 new lines and 4 doublings having aggregate length of 1664 km at a cost of `Rs. 43771 crore are in progress in North Eastern Region. An expenditure of `Rs. 7143 crore has been incurred on these projects during 2016-17 and residual liabilities of some completed projects. Rs. 5586 crore has been allotted for the works in North Eastern Region in Budget 2017-18. 3 New Lines having aggregate length of 186 km costing `Rs. 9279 crore and 2 Doublings having aggregate length of 17.3 km costing `Rs. 3944.32 crore and 18 surveys for New Lines have been included in Budget 2017-18.
