NFR expedites ₹12,264-cr Jiribam-Imphal rail line

North-east Frontier Railways (NFR) has fast-tracked the Jiribam-Imphal rail project which will make Imphal the fourth capital city in the region to come on the Indian railway map in the next 27 months. The NFR, which has already connected Assam's main city Guwahati (adjoining capital Dispur), Tripura capital Agartala and Arunachal Pradesh's Naharlagun, adjacent to capital city Itanagar, is laying tracks to connect the capital cities of two more northeastern states -- Mizoram and Nagaland. NFR Chief Public Relations Officer Guneet Kaur informed that the NFR (Construction) organization is executing the Jiribam-Imphal new broad gauge railway line (111 km) at an estimated cost of ₹12,264.15 crore and is to be completed in December 2023. Eight new station buildings, 11 major bridges, 134 minor bridges, four road-over bridges, 12 road-under bridges, and a record length of over 71,066 meter of tunnelling are being constructed. Scheduled completion of this project is crucial for further extending rail connectivity to Myanmar in keeping with the "Act East Policy" of the Indian government.

A senior engineer of the NFR (construction wing) informed that for the first time in India, a safety tunnel for the safe evacuation of people during any emergency at tunnel number 12 has been constructed on the Jiribam-Tupul-Imphal railway line which is significant as the section would have the tallest bridge in the world and the longest railway tunnel in India.