Goods train with essential commodities for Manipur flagged off from Guwahati
The goods train carrying essential commodities through its 13 compartments is expected to arrive at Khongsang railway station in Manipur’s Tamenglong district around 10am tomorrow (Monday), Shanta Nahakpam, a Manipur-based trader said over the phone from Guwahati
In view of the prevailing law and order situation in Manipur leading to scarcity of essential, the Northeast Frontier (NF) Railway in co-operation with Manipur’s transport department on Sunday released the first goods trains carrying essential commodities for the violence-hit northeastern state, according to traders.
Confirming the development, Manipur chief minister N Biren Singh shared a video clip of the formal flagging of the train from his official Twitter handle and wrote, “In a significant milestone, the first goods train loaded with essential commodities have been flagged off from Guwahati goods yard, bound for Khongsang railway station at Tamenglong.”
“This marks a new era of faster and efficient connectivity for Manipur. My heartfelt gratitude to Hon’ble PM Shri @narendramodi Ji and Railway Minister Shri @AshwiniVaishnav Ji for making this possible,” he added.
The goods train carrying essential commodities with 13 compartments is expected to arrive at Khongsang railway station in Manipur’s Tamenglong district around 10am tomorrow (Monday), Shanta Nahakpam, a Manipur-based trader said over the phone from Guwahati.
Shanta, who was present during the day’s flagging off ceremony at New Guwahati railway station, informed that NF Railway’s assistant commercial manager Rituraj Borthakur and assistant operation manager Pravinkumar and traders from Manipur also attended the historic event.
Last week, NF Railway in a press release announced that the Khongsang railway station, which was commissioned in 2022 on the Jiribam–Imphal new line project under NF Railway in Manipur, has been opened for loading and unloading after it was suspended due to prevailing law and order situation in Manipur.
Manipur has been witnessing ethnic violence since the first week of May, in which around 140 people have died so far and more than 50,000 people displaced besides, burning of dozens of houses.
It may be recalled the NF Railway had extended the first direct passenger train service namely ‘Jan Shatabdi Express’ connecting Tripura’s Agartala & Khongsang covering a stretch of about 55km as part of the ongoing 111km Imphal-Jiribam railway line project which is one of the crucial connectivity projects for the northeastern region.
The line is being built at an estimated cost of Rs.14,322 crore. Once completed, the line will connect to Manipur state capital Imphal with the country’s broad gauge railway network.
The project is expected to provide enhanced connectivity to the people of Manipur, help grow small-scale industries in the area and boost tourism in the state, according to the officials familiar with the matter.
After completion, the present road journey time of about 10 hrs to reach Imphal from Jiribam, the state’s first railhead, is expected to be reduced to 2.5 hours.