Guwahati/Imphal: Manipur capital Imphal is expected to feature in the Indian Railways network by December 2023, making it the fourth capital city in the northeastern region to have a rail link, officials said on Friday.
Northeast Frontier Railway (NFR) Chief Public Relations Officer Sabyasachi De said that over 90 per cent work of the 110 km Jiribam (near Assam)-Imphal railway line have been completed and Rs 14,322 crore project is targeted to be completed by December 2023.
The construction of the Jiribam-Imphal railway project involves multiple tunnels and bridges in tough terrains, he said.
Out of 52 tunnels, work for the 48 have already been completed while of the 11 major bridges; substructure of seven bridges and superstructure of 5 bridges have been finished.
Out of 129 minor bridges, the work for 110 bridges have also been completed.
De said that the tallest pier railway bridge of the world with a height of 141 meters is also being constructed in this project and nearing completion. The route of the project would cover 11 railway stations — and six of them are completed.
After completion of the under-construction railway project, the present road journey time of about 10 hours to reach Imphal from Jiribam will be reduced to 2.5 hours, the CPRO said.
The railway project after completion would facilitate the receiving of essential commodities faster by the state and help the state local producers to export their products outside the state quicker.
Assam’s main city of Guwahati (adjoining capital Dispur), Tripura capital Agartala and Arunachal Pradesh’s Naharlagun (adjacent to capital city Itanagar) already came on the railway network.
–IANS