GUWAHATI: The Northeast Frontier Railway (NFR) which provides rail network connectivity to all the eight NE States apart from parts of West Bengal and Bihar is undertaking various infrastructure developments work to improve average speed and punctuality of freight and passenger carrying trains. As most of the NFR is predominantly still a single line section, this affects the punctuality and average speed of passenger and goods carrying trains. Moreover, the running of freight trains is vital for maintaining the supply of essential and other commodities to all the NE states which are all landlocked.
In view of the above NFR is working towards reducing the constraints in train movements and work are on at various states and locations in this regard. Some of the major works that are going on are as follows:
*A new bridge over river Teesta near Jalpaiguri in West Bengal along with a new double line track of about 5.71 kms is going on and expected to be completed by January, 2021.
*Track laying and other works that are going on between Betgara to Gumanihat stations (46.34 Km) in West Bengal as part of the new double line work are also expected to be completed by March, 2021. Once completed, the entire portion upto New Bongaigaon from New Jalpaiguri will have two railway tracks to operate trains.
* Work has also commenced for the new BG line from New Bongaigaon - Kamakhya via Rangiya (142 km) in Assam. It is also expected to be completed by March, 2023.
* Work for the 2ndBG line in New Bongaigaon- Goalpara Town - Kamakhya (176 km) section in Assam is also progressing well and targeted to be completed by March, 2023.
*Between Digaru to Hojai stations in Assam, construction of a new double line (102 km) is in progress and expected to be over by May, 2021. Once completed, the capacity of train movement in Guwahati – Lumding section will increase substantially.
*Construction of a new line connecting Gauripur to Abhyapuri as an alternative route bye-passing New Bongaigaon (86.44 Km) is also going on full swing in Assam and expected to be completed by February, 2021.
All these above works are expected to reduce the existing constraints which affect punctuality and the average speed of NFR trains to a substantial extent once completed. NFR will be in a position to handle more trains and economic activity within its service area is also going to increase.
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