Imphal becomes 4th capital city in NE to be connected by railway

Imphal: Manipur's Imphal will be the fourth capital city in the mountainous northeastern region expected to come on the Indian railway map within the next 27 months.

The Northeast Frontier Railways (NFR), which has already connected Assam's main city Guwahati (adjoining capital Dispur), Tripura capital Agartala and Arunachal Pradesh's Naharlagun (adjacent to capital city Itanagar), is laying tracks to connect the capital cities of two more northeastern states -- Mizoram and Nagaland.

However, there is no precise plan of the NFR when Meghalaya capital Shillong and Sikkim capital Gangtok would come on the railway network as railway construction work has not even seriously started in the two northeastern states.

The NFR (Construction) organisation is executing the Jiribam-Imphal new broad gauge railway line (111 km) project at an estimated cost of Rs 12,264.15 crore and the target date for completion of the project is December 2023, said NFR Chief Public Relations Officer (CPRO) Guneet Kaur.

"Eight new station buildings, 11 major bridges, 134 minor bridges, four road overbridges, 12 road underbridges and a record length of over 71,066 meters of tunnelling are being constructed," she added.

"Various issues related to timely completion of the project were discussed by all stakeholders. Timely completion of this project is very crucial for further extending rail connectivity to Myanmar in future, in keeping with the "Act East Policy" of the Indian government," the CPRO said.

For the first time in India, a safety tunnel for the safe evacuation of people during any emergency at tunnel number 12 has been constructed on the Jiribam-Tupul-Imphal railway line which is significant as the section would have the tallest bridge in the world and the longest railway tunnel in India, said a senior engineer of the NFR (construction wing).

Completion of the project will expose the rich culture of Manipur to the world, he added.

The 11.55 km long tunnel number 12 is the longest railway tunnel in India on the Jiribam-Tupul-Imphal railway line and this tunnel is longer than the famous Pir Panjal tunnel (8.5 km) on the Banihal-Qazigund line in Jammu and Kashmir.

The approximate cost for the construction of this tunnel, which lies in the two districts of Manipur, Senapati and Imphal West, and is situated in the western part of the Imphal Valley, would be Rs 930 crore.

The NFR, one among the 17 railway zones in India, operates fully and partially in six of the eight northeastern states, excluding Meghalaya and Sikkim, and in seven districts of West Bengal and five districts of north Bihar.