Imphal: For the first time, goods train reaches at the Rani Gaidinliu Railway Station in Goinanglong (Oinamlong) village of Tamenglong district on Thursday.
“In yet another milestone, the first ever Goods Train reached Rani Gaidinliu Railway Station, Tamenglong yesterday. The improvement in railway connectivity, under the close supervision of Hon’ PM Sh @narendramodi Ji, will immensely improve the socio-economic condition of Manipur,” Chief Minister, N Biren Singh tweeted confirming the news.
It may be mentioned that Jiribam-Imphal (110.625 km) new line project had been included in Budget in 2003-04. The latest anticipated cost of the project is Rs. 12,264 crore. An expenditure of Rs. 10,089 crore has been incurred upto March, 2020 and an outlay of Rs. 800 crore has been provided for financial year 2020-21.
According to Ministry of Railways, 12km length from Jiribam to Vangaichungpao has been completed and commissioned in March, 2017 and work has been taken up in the available land. Mining of 46 nos. tunnels out of total 47 tunnels have been completed. Mining of 47.40 km tunnel has been done during 2014-19, which is 110% more than tunnel mining done during 2009-14 (22.52 km). 5 out of 11 major bridges, 108 out of 128 minor bridges, 3 out of 5 Road Over Bridges (ROBs) and 2 out of 12 Road Under Bridges (RUBs) have been completed.
Earlier, the Prime Minister of India in his address on the 50th statehood day of Manipur said that under the ‘double-engine’ government, Manipur is getting long-awaited facilities like Railways. Thousands crore rupees worth connectivity projects are underway in the state including the Jiribam-Tupul-Imphal railway line. Similarly, with Imphal airport getting international status, connectivity of North-Eastern states with Delhi, Kolkata and Bengaluru has improved. Manipur will also benefit from India-Myanmar-Thailand tri-lateral highway and the upcoming 9 thousand crore natural gas pipeline in the region.
One of the bridges, Noney bridge will be the world's tallest rail bridge (141 m) when completed and a 12-km single tube channel will be the second-longest in the Indian Railways network.
