INR 40,000 crore worth of projects announced by Indian Railways for north east states

The national transporter is planning to construct the rail links to the capital cities of Manipur, Mizoram, Meghalaya, Sikkim, and Nagaland in the next two years.

Indian Railways has lined up several projects worth at least INR 40,000 crore to connect capital cities of five North Eastern states and areas bordering China, Myanmar and Bangladesh with the rest of the country.

The national transporter is planning to construct the rail links to the capital cities of Manipur, Mizoram, Meghalaya, Sikkim, and Nagaland in the next two years. The projects include laying over 1,500 km of rail lines and several engineering marvels such as India's longest double-decker rail-cum-road bridge, one of the longest tunnels in the country and the world's tallest pillar-based rail bridge.

India will also set up new rail links with Myanmar and Bangladesh in the coming years through these rail lines in the border states of the northeast. Railways have also planned a 180-kilometer railway line in Arunachal Pradesh that will provide accessibility right up to the China border in Tawang, and another rail line from Imphal in Manipur to Moreh at the Myanmar border. A rail link connecting Agartala in Tripura and Bangladesh is under construction.

These lines will connect the capital of all northeast states with the currently operational network in Guwahati. It will significantly cut down travel time between the northeastern states and other states of the country providing a cheaper mode to the people and boosting freight movement.

While Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, and Tripura are already connected by rail, the capitals of Meghalaya, Manipur, Mizoram, Sikkim, and Nagaland are not Railways is also constructing a 111-km rail line from Jiribam in Manipur, located at the Assam border, to connect Imphal in Manipur.

The distance is around 100 km from Imphal," the official said. Railways is also connecting Agartala in Tripura to Bangladesh which will reduce the travel time between Tripura and Kolkata to less than 10 hours from the existing 24 hours.