Final location survey of 3 railway lines in Arunachal announced
To expand railway connectivity in Arunachal Pradesh and provide impetus to the strategic state from the security point of view, the Centre today formally announced the final location survey of three strategic railway lines. Union Minister of State for Communication and Railways Manoj Sinha and Minister of State for Home Kiren Rijiju formally announced commencement of the final survey at Naharlagun Railway Station here.
The Centre, Sinha said, is attaching top priority to the North East and the NDA government has allocated a whopping Rs 5,886 crore for development of railway connectivity in the region. It is committed to connecting all states with broad gauge railway tracks by 2020, he said.
The three proposed lines Bhalukpong-Tenga-Tawang (378 km), North Lakhimpur-Bame-Aalo-Silapathar (247.85 km) and Pasighat-Tezu-Parsuram Kund-Rupai (227 km) will improve connectivity to northern and eastern frontiers of Arunachal Pradesh. “They will also help from the security point of view besides accelerating socio-economic development of the people,” Sinha said in his address.
The realistic cost assessment of the three projects would be known only after completion of final location surveys but is expected to be around Rs 70,000 crore. Though the survey for Pasighat-Tezu-Parshuram Kund-Rupai project can be completed within a short time but the other two will take time due to the hostile terrain, he said adding modern technique would be adopted to overcome the challenge. The survey by Northeast Frontier Railway is expected to be completed by October 2020.
The minister assured to look into demands for introduction of goods and freight service train, introduction of a train between Naharlagun and Bangalore, Rajdhani Express status to the weekly AC express train and land acquisition for expansion of railways at Borum (Naharlagun). Sinha later told reporters that the Railways ministry had also sanctioned Reconnaissance Engineering-cum Traffic Survey (RETS) for eight new lines in the state for a total length of about 625 km.
The new lines include, Itakhola to Seijosa (18 km), Doomdooma to Wakro via Simaluguri, Namsai and Chiwkham (96 km) Dangri to Roing (60 km) Naharkatia-Deomali (20 km), Lekhapani-Nampong-New Khamlang-Deben (75 km) and Tinsukia to Pasighat via Kanubari, Deomali, Lekhapani, Jairampur,Kharsang, Miao, Diyun, Tezu, Bhismaknagar, Roing and Dambuk (300 km).
Sinha, who also holds independent charge of communication ministry, said that under the Bharat Net scheme, his ministry has proposed mobile connectivity to 2.5 lakh gram panchayats in the country in a phased manner. Accordingly in the first phase one lakh panchayats have been targeted and laying of optical fibres and other requirements have been completed.
News Source: PTI
You might also like
Central Railways to run Durga Puja special trains between Mumbai and Howrah
In order to clear the extra rush of passengers during the Durga Puja festival, the Central Railway will run four trips of special trains between Lokmanya Tilak Terminus (LTT) in
ETIHAD AIRWAYS UNITES INNOVATION WITH HOLLYWOOD GLAMOUR FOR VIRTUAL REALITY MOVIE
etihad airways has released its highly anticipated 360-degree virtual reality film starring academy award winning actress Nicole Kidman. This marks the first time that a Hollywood actor has ever starred
Ethiopian Airlines, South African Airways to revamp Codeshare services
Ethiopian Airlines and South African Airways, both members of Star Alliance, have entered into an expanded codeshare agreement, inked on October 01, 2016 and projected to be effective as of
