STAFF REPORTER
GUWAHATI: A delegation of the Assam Rail Passenger Association (ARPA) met the General Manager (GM) of the N F Railway, Maligaon Chetan Kumar Srivatsav, in his office on Thursday, demanding the restarting of all the withdrawn trains since COVID-19, among other issues.
The delegation, headed by Vice President of ARPA Dr. Padma Guha Agarwalla, submitted a memorandum to the GM with a charter of demands. Dipankar Sharma, General Secretary of ARPA, said that “we met the GM at his office regarding our demands, and our discussion was cordial, and the GM assured positive steps would be taken. Highlighting the demands, he said, it is known to us all that although budget allocation has been increased to the N. F. Railway Zone, it is a matter of concern that the train services are neither up to the desired level nor are they enough to meet the people’s needs. 21 trains have been withdrawn since COVID 19, and we urge you to resume or restart the withdrawn trains. Some of the trains that needed to be restarted as soon as possible are 55818 Guwahati-New Bongaigaon Passenger (ii) 15771 Alipurduar-Guwahati. Intercity Express (iii) 55903 Dimapur-Mariani Passenger (iv) 75906 Dibrugarh Town-Ledo DEMU (morning service) 05819 Dibrugarh-Dekargaon (Tezpur) Intercity Express (vi) 12525 Dibrugarh-Kolkata Superfast via Bogibeel bridge (vii) 12086 Dibrugarh-Guwahati Shatabdi Express.
He further said that “ All the stoppages since COVID-19 that have been withdrawn should be restored without further delay. The N.F. Railway sent a number of proposals for new stoppages of different trains at important stations to be approved by the Railway Board. However, the N.F. Railway zonal authorities have so far failed to get the same approved. This has caused resentment amongst the general public, who have not been able to avail train services even from those few trains that legitimately should have stoppages at the respective stations. For example, (i) N F Railway, Maligaon, sent a proposal for Rajdhani Express (RE) 12423/24 stoppage at Rangia Junction to the Railway Board for final clearance in 2009. This has not materialized to date. (ii) A similar proposal for RE 20505/06 stoppage at Dhemaji was sent by the NF Railway more than a year ago, in March 2022. (iii) Many other stoppage proposals for Kokrajhar, Gosaigaon, Fakiragram, Sapatgram, Mazbat, Khairabari, Nalbari, etc. are pending before the ED (Coaching) of the Railway Board.”
“The train services from Silchar to Guwahati need to be extended up to New Bongaigaon, Rangapara North, or Rangia Junction so that lower Assam (Western Assam) passengers can avoid coming to Guwahati to board this train. (ii) Similarly, the 05810 Guwahati-New Bongaigaon passenger train needs to be extended up to Gosaigaon or Golakganj Jn at the earliest. Although route electrification was completed up to Guwahati from New Bongaigaon, not a single Electric Multiple Unit (EMU) or Mainline Electric Multiple Unit (MEMU) was given to local people. Again, route electrification up to Dibrugarh Town is in progress, and as per NF Railway sources, the same is going to be completed by September 2023. As local train services are known to be a factor in socio-economic development, sub-urban train services also need to be provided for Guwahati,” he added.
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