First train to reach Jiribam-Tupul by March 2017: NEFR
Source: Hueiyen News Service
Imphal, March 16 2015:
An official team of North East Frontiers Railway (NEFR) inspected the on-going construction work on 34 different tunnels for Jiribam-Tupul rail line during which the NEFR general manager said the first train was expected to reach Tupul by March 2017 .
After completing a three-day inspection of the tunnel construction work in Jiribam subdivision of Imphal East and Tamenglong district, the NEFR team led by its general manager (construction) Rajesh Kumar told reporters that he hoped the first train would reach Tupul by March 2017 .
During the inspection trip the NEFR team inaugurated the Tunnel Number-2 constructed by Hostel Project Ltd at Titubung village, which is about 15 km from Jiribam's Leishabi Thol.
The length of the completed tunnel is 1.4 km and its breadth is 7.6 metre with 8 metre in height.
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There are a total of 34 tunnels for the Jiribam-Tupul rail line covering about 39 km, Rajeshkumar told Hueiyen Lanpao.
He said tunnel drilling work for 30 km-long rail line has been finished so far.
The tunnel construction started on October 2, 2012 .
He said the tunnel drilling work can finish only one km per month.
"I hope the first rail engine will arrive at Tupul by March 2016 and the first ever train service will start by March 2017," he added.
Rajeshkumar further said target has been set to complete the Tupul-Imphal rail line by March 2018 .
When asked about any hurdle faced by the tunnel construction company in the work, the NEFR general manager said timely arrival of necessary machineries is one of the big problems.
He said most of the machineries weigh 60-70 ton which is beyond the capacity of National Highway-37 (Imphal-Jiribam road) that has bridges capable of bearing only 19 ton of load.
But he said the rail line construction is progressing because of the joint effort by the Indian Railways and all partners working with it.