Staff Reporter
Guwahati: In a first for the state, the Indian Railways is planning to include Darrang district in Assam in the railway map for the region. The railways have already sanctioned the Final Location Survey for a new rail line of 155 km from Agyathuri to Dekargaon via Sipajhar, Mangaldoi, Kharupetia, and Dalgaon. The information was supplied in an answer to an unstarred question by Assam’s Member of Parliament, Dilip Saikia, in the Lok Sabha today.
In his written reply, Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw stated that as of April 1, 2024, the Indian Railways has plans for the country, including the north-eastern region, which include a total of 488 railway infrastructure projects (187 new lines, 40 gauge conversion, and 261 track doubling) of total length 44,488 km, costing approx. Rs 7.44 lakh crore. These are in different stages of planning, approval, or construction, out of which 12,045 km of length have been commissioned and an expenditure of approx. Rs 2.92 lakh crore has been incurred up to March 2024, he stated.
He also informed the Lok Sabha that the Railway infrastructural projects in the Northeast Region are covered by the Northeast Frontier Railway (NFR) Zone of Indian Railways. As of April 1, 2024, 18 projects (13 new lines and 5 track doubling work), comprising a total length of 1,368 km, costing Rs 74,972 crore, falling fully or partly in the North Eastern Region, are in the planning, approval, or construction stages, out of which 313 km of length have been commissioned and an expenditure of Rs 40,549 crore has been incurred up to March 2024. These include: (i) 3 New Line projects covering a total length of 896 km at a cost of Rs 64,873 crore, out of which 81 km has been commissioned and an expenditure of Rs 34,616 crore has been incurred up to March 2024; (ii) 5 Doubling projects covering a total length of 472 km at a cost of Rs 10,099 crore, out of which 232 km has been commissioned and an expenditure of Rs 5,933 crore has been incurred up to March 2024.
Moreover, Minister Vaishnaw stated that the Final Location Survey for the new rail line from Agyathuri to Dekargaon (155 km) via Sipajhar, Mangaldoi, Kharupetia, and Dalgaon has been sanctioned. The field survey has been taken up for the preparation of the detailed project report, he added.
Also Read: Northeast Region: Rs. 10,376 crore earmarked for railways (sentinelassam.com)
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