IMPHAL: Those were historic moments for Manipur train passengers as the trial run of a passenger train was completed on Friday. The passenger train trial run from Silchar railway station in Assam to Vaingaichunpao in Manipur's Tamenglong district was successfully completed, marking a new breakthrough for Indian Railways. Manipur Chief Minister N. Biren Singh called the major milestone for Indian Railways a ''historic moment'' since it was the first time a direct connecting route to Manipur's Vaingaichunpao railway station was established.
''Historic moment for Manipur as the first trial run of a passenger train from Silchar to Vaingaichunpao in Tamenglong was successfully conducted on Friday,'' twitted the Manipur CM. Singh also praised Prime Minister Narendra Modi for bringing this momentous event about under his leadership. ''The people of Manipur are immensely grateful to PM @narendramodi Ji for the transformation brought under his leadership.''
The Rajdhani Express passenger train made a brief stop at Jiribam railway station, where officials and citizens honoured the train and hosted the national flag, followed by the national anthem.
This accomplishment is expected to benefit the State of Manipur by linking it directly to Assam's Silchar town and allowing locals to easily go elsewhere. Meanwhile, the Railways is on a quest to become ''future ready'', with plans to deliver 58 super-critical and 68 essential projects totaling more than Rs 1,15,000 crore over the next four years. Despite COVID difficulties, the Indian Railways is moving quickly to finish projects that are critical for boosting track capacity.
In the past year, 29 super-critical projects totaling 1,044 km in length and costing Rs 11,588 crore were completed. The Indian Railways has identified 58 'Super Critical Projects' totalling 3750 km in length and costing Rs 39,663 crore. A total of 27 of these 58 'Super Critical Projects' will be completed by December 2021, with the remaining two projects is expected to be completed by March 2022. (Agencies)
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