The nostalgic train journey to begin soon in Silchar

SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT

SILCHAR: The railway station might look like a structure of Victorian age of the British Empire. But, its significance can hardly be overshadowed. The station then called Latu is now renamed as Shahbajpur railway station from 1965. The Sylhet Referendum of 1947 in July just prior to partition of the country gave larger part of Latu to India and a portion of it went to East Pakistan, now Bangladesh. Despite name change, people love to call the railway station as Latu.

British started the Commila- Akhaura -Kulaura-Badarpur railway line from 1896 to 1898 under Assam-Bengal railway. This was extended to Lumding in 1903 which was further taken to Chittagong to facilitate transportation of tea from Assam. This was in adherence to the demand of Assam Tea Growers Association. Interesting to know, the British made Badarpur-Lumding-Dibrugarh MG line passing through 37 tunnels and 480 bridges, now converted into BG, linking the Chittagong port, was on the commercial agenda of the Colonial regime. The last railway station on Indian side is Mahisasan and on that side of Bangladesh is Latu.

But, Latu station remains unchanged with trains chugging in and out with whistling engines. Before the partition of the country, people of Sylhet undertook journey through this station to Karimganj, Badarpur, Hojai, Lumding, Guwahati. Rabindra Nath Tagore came to Sylhet in 1917 through this route. During the Indo-Pak war of 1965, train movement came to a halt through this track which was expected to keep the rolling stock moving from 1996. But lack of modernisation of traffic system, it could not materialise. The humming and buzzing Latu station, though now in Bangladesh, has emotional chord with the people on this side of border, is now virtually a cow-shed.

During British raj, working people and those in search of jobs used to assemble and engaged in gossip till the train arrived. Karimganj was then a sub division of Sylhet. People now divided by barbed wire fencing want to break the barrier with the resumption of train services. If Atari-Wagha border can be opened and Amritsar-Lahore bus services resumed, why not Latu-Badarpur rail track. Of relief and good news is that very soon, Delhi-Dacca talks to take up the issue of resumption of train services on Sylhet-Latu-Badarpur- Silchar route. It will then be a nostalgic train journey for many.

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