26-05-2025
Aizawl becomes fourth N-E capital with rail link, trial run successful
IN A big push for deeper connectivity in the North-East, Mizoram's capital Aizawl has now been linked to the national railway network via the Bairabi–Sairang line in the state.
Bairabi in Kolasib district, near the border with Assam, has so far been the only railhead in Mizoram. Sairang is a satellite town of Aizawl, around 20 km from the city.
A senior official of the Ministry of Railways said the formal inauguration of the Bairabi–Sairang line is likely to take place after June 17.
'The Commission of Railway Safety (CRS) will conduct the inspection of the project this week. Only after that can the inauguration happen, leading to the start of train operations. Barring a few sideworks, work on the line is almost complete,' the official said.
The inspection by the CRS, the railway safety audit body, is the final stage for the train operation.
A successful trial run to Sairang was conducted on May 1 by the Northeast Frontier Railway (NFR), marking a historic step.
Mizoram becomes the fourth N-E state with its capital city connected to the national railway network. The other three states are Assam, Tripura and Arunachal Pradesh.
Until now the train used to go only up to 1.5 km in Mizoram. The Bairabi–Sairang New Line is a 51.38-km railway project with a revised sanctioned cost of Rs 5,021.45 crore.
According to data available with the Ministry of Railways, the project has achieved 94.52 per cent physical progress and 97.13 per cent financial progress. The project is divided into four sections with the Bairabi–Hortoki section (16.72 km) already commissioned in July 2024.
The remaining sections — Hortoki–Kawnpui (9.71 km), Kawnpui–Mualkhang (12.11 km), and Mualkhang–Sairang (12.84 km) — are slated for operations by June.
The project was also very challenging from the engineering point given the difficult terrain of Mizoram. The line has 48 tunnels with a total length of 12,853 m, alongside 55 major bridges and 87 minor bridges. It also includes five Road Over Bridges (ROBs) and six Road Under Bridges (RUBs). One of the notable structures is Bridge No. 196, standing at a height of 104 m, which is 32 m taller than the Qutub Minar.
The Bairabi-Sairang project is part of a broader, accelerated push by the Ministry of Railways to connect all N-E state capitals by rail and enhance infrastructure in the region. This involves numerous new line and doubling projects across Assam, Nagaland, Arunachal Pradesh, Sikkim, Manipur and Tripura. The railways work is yet to take off in full flow in Meghalaya because of years of opposition by local pressure groups against rail connectivity.
Other key new line projects underway include:
In addition to new lines, railway infrastructure is being upgraded with doubling projects like the Agthori–Kamakhya line with a new rail-cum-road bridge at Saraighat. This project in Assam has a length of 7.062 km, costs Rs 1,473.77 crore, and has a TDC of December 2029.
The two other major line doubling projects in Assam are New Bongaigaon-Agthori via Rangiya (142.97 km), which was commissioned in October 2024, and New Bongaigaon-Goalpara-Kamakhya doubling project, which is likely to be commissioned in March 2027.
According to data tabled by the Ministry of Railways in Lok Sabha on March 19 this year, overall, as of April 1, 2024, there were 18 railway projects (13 new line and 5 doubling) with a total length of 1,368 km and an estimated cost of Rs 74,972 crore at various stages of planning and implementation in the N-E region including Assam. Of this, 313 km of track length has been commissioned. An expenditure of Rs 40,549 crore had been incurred up to March 2024.
The data shows that 81 km of the 896-km new line projects and 232 km of the 472-km doubling projects have been commissioned, with expenditure of Rs 34,616 crore and Rs 5,933 crore, respectively.
According to the Ministry, as a part of railway infrastructure expansion in the North-East, in last 3 years (from 2021-22 to 2024-25), 21 surveys (17 new line and 4 doubling), of total length 2,499 km falling fully/partly in the N-E region including Assam, have been sanctioned.
The average budget allocation for infrastructure projects in the N-E region has also increased, with Rs 10,440 crore allocation for 2025-26.
Moreover, the Amrit Bharat Station Scheme includes several stations in the N-E for upgrades such as Dimapur (Nagaland), Agartala, Udaipur, Kumarghat and Dharmanagar in Tripura, Sairang (Mizoram), Imphal (Manipur), Naharlagun (Arunachal Pradesh), Mendipathar (Meghalaya), Rangpo (Sikkim), and 50 stations in Assam including major hubs like Guwahati and Kamakhya.
The region also currently has a pair of Vande Bharat trains running between Guwahati and New Jalpaiguri, with two new Amrit Bharat trains earmarked for the North-East.
Dheeraj Mishra is a Principal correspondent with The Indian Express, Business Bureau. He covers India's two key ministries- Ministry of Railways and Ministry of Road Transport & Highways. He frequently uses the Right to Information (RTI) Act for his stories, which have resulted in many impactful reports. ... Read More
