Sabyasachi De, CPRO of Northeast Frontier Railway has informed that the focus is on connecting Myanmar, Bhutan and Bangladesh. The Imphal-Moreh line has been given preliminary approval. The Sairang-Hbichhuah railway line, which is South of Mizoram and connects the Kaladan Multimodal Project, has also been given approval. The Kokrajhar-Gelephu railway line connecting Bhutan is also being worked upon. In a very short period of time, the Agartala-Akhaura railway project will also be commissioned. North East will have its first international cross-border railway connectivity very soon.
Lots of cross-border projects are also there – the Mahisasan zero point in Assam. Our focus is mainly to connect all the border areas and also to increase the trade through these international neighbours which we have. Sairang-Hbichhuah railway project that will give us a gateway to the Sittwe Port in Myanmar,” Sabyasachi De said.
For the overall development of railway infrastructure in the Northeastern region, for the first time, an amount of Rs. 1.20 lakh crore has been earmarked for connecting the hilly and border areas.
The Mahisasan railway station which is located along with the adjoining Kushiyara River and the Mahisashan-Shahbajpur route has been non-operational since 1966, can play an important role in the development of the North-Eastern region and also in strengthening India’s bilateral trade and transit connectivity with Bangladesh. He further said that the most important projects that are going on in the North East are state capital connectivity projects – we are trying to connect Sikkim, Mizoram, Manipur, and Nagaland.
