Train services in parts of NE to be partially restored tomorrow

Guwahati, June 28 (IANS) After a week of disruption, the train services between south Assam, Tripura, Manipur, and Mizoram and the rest of the country via Guwahati would be partially restored from June 29, an official said on Saturday.

The train services in the Lumding-Badarpur Hill Section of the Lumding division have been disrupted since June 23 after huge landslides badly affected the railway track in the mountainous areas.

Northeast Frontier Railway (NFR) Chief Public Relations Officer (CPRO) Kapinjal Kishore Sharma said on Saturday night that the train movement over the affected portion in Lumpur-New Haflong in the Lumding-Badarpur Hill Section of the Lumding division would be partially restored from Sunday.

Restoration efforts at the affected location are progressing rapidly to normalise train movement, he said.

Sharma said that limited train operations are planned between 12 p.m. and 6 p.m. on Sunday, with full-fledged train services expected to resume from Monday.

Goods trains carrying petroleum products and food grains bound for the state of Tripura and the Barak Valley in southern Assam would be prioritised for movement over the section.

Additionally, a POL wagon currently stranded at Guwahati and scheduled for unloading at Dharmanagar in northern Tripura would be dispatched as soon as the track is cleared, the official said.

Following the restoration, Sealdah-Silchar (Kanchenjunga Express), which commenced its journey on Saturday (June 28), would be the first passenger train to operate on its original route through the restored section.

Subsequently, Sabroom (Tripura)-Sealdah (Kanchenjunga Express), starting its journey on June 29, would also be routed through the section.

To facilitate the movement of stranded passengers, a special train would run from Rangiya to Agartala on Sunday (June 29).

Sharma said that some portion of the Lumding-Badarpur hill section under Assam’s Dima Hasao district was severely affected by multiple earth slips triggered by heavy rainfall. NFR General Manager Chetan Kumar Shrivastava visited the site to assess the ground situation, review restoration progress and encourage the field teams.

He instructed that maximum manpower and machinery be deployed to accelerate the restoration efforts and ensure early resumption of train services on this vital hill section.

--IANS

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