Aizawl: Good news has come for the residents of Aizawl, the capital of Mizoram state. It will be the fourth capital city of the Northeast to come under railway link within the next 9 months, as the Northeast Frontier Railway (NFR) is laying a new 51.38 km broad gauge track up to Sairang.

A senior Mizoram government official said NFR General Manager Arun Kumar Choudhary during a meeting with state Chief Minister Lalduhoma informed that the 51.38-km new line between Bhairabi (near Assam's Hailakandi district) and Sairang (near Aizawl) is expected to be completed by July next year. 

Bairabi-Sairang worth Rs 8,213.72 crore

A senior NFR official said the ₹8,213.72 crore Bairabi-Sairang railway project is now on the move. Assam's main city Guwahati (adjacent to capital Dispur), Tripura's capital Agartala and Arunachal Pradesh's Naharlagun (adjacent to capital city Itanagar) are already on the railway network for many years.

NFR Chief Public Relations Officer (CPRO) Kapinjal Kishore Sharma said the entire Bairabi-Sairang project, once completed, will be a game-changer project in terms of communication and commerce for the people of Mizoram. He said the economical and environment-friendly railway services will have a positive impact on almost all development works in the state. 

"More than 93 per cent of the work on the Bairabi-Sairang railway project has been completed. The 51.38-km route has four stations - Hortoki, Kawanpui, Mualkhang and Sairang," the CPRO told IANS.

Railway project divided into four parts

The Bairabi and Sairang railway project is divided into four parts - Bairabi-Hortoki, Hortoki-Kawanpui, Kawanpui-Mualakhang, and Mualakhang-Sairang. Sharma said the Bairabi-Hortoki part, which is 17.38 km long, has been completed and was commissioned in July and train service has been operational since August. The railway project includes 48 tunnels. Out of the total length of 12,853 m tunnels, 12,807 m tunnelling work has already been completed.

How many bridges are there in the project?

There will be a total of 55 big bridges and 87 small bridges in this project. The construction of the highest pier of the project in the approach of Sairang station has also been completed. The height of this pier is 104 meters, as well as the Qutub Minar is 42 meters high. The project also includes five road over bridges and six road under bridges.