Manipur CM N Biren has met the General Manager of N F Railways along with his team in Imphal. Tweeting about the present status of meeting, N Biren informed that Rajdhani and Satabdi Express trains to reach Imphal soon.
Moreover, rail connectivity will be seen along the foothills of Manipur, touching every districts. Imphal will be the fourth State Capital of Northeast States to have rail connectivity.
From May 25, goods trains will be operational in Manipur. On January 27, 2022, Rani Gaidinliu station at Oinamlong village received its first goods train, marking the first-ever freight train reaching in Manipur. Then, first loaded goods train with 52 BOBYNL wagons were successfully rolled in at Khongsang station from Rani Gaidinliu Station which is 56 km.
Union Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw on his visit to Imphal in January this year assured that there is also need to extend the rail line up to Moreh for which necessary step’s will be taken up to conduct survey for final location. He has accorded sanction for final location survey for the proposed 111-km rail line to connect Manipur capital Imphal with Moreh bordering Myanmar.
Ashwini has informed the media about beginning the survey for a ring- road type local train to facilitate smooth and faster connectivity between the valley and hill districts.
The 111 km Imphal Jiribam railway line is being built at an estimated cost of Rs 12,264 crore. Eight new station buildings, 11 major bridges, 134 minor bridges, four road over bridges, 12 road under bridges and a record length of over 71,066 meter of tunneling are being constructed so far.
The 11.55 km long tunnel number 12 is the longest railway tunnel in India on the Jiribam-Tupul-Imphal railway line. The world’s tallest bridge pier will also be seen in Manipur. The bridge, which is being built at a pier height of 141 meters, will surpass the existing record of 139 meter of Mala – Rijeka viaduct, Montenegro in Europe.
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. Express trains to reach Imphal is a sign of development of the present BJP government in the State as well as the Centre.