New Delhi/Aizawl: Mizoram Chief Minister Lalduhoma on Monday met Prime Minister Narendra Modi at his official residence in New Delhi and invited him to formally inaugurate the newly completed BairabiSairang railway line and the new Sairang Railway Station.
An official of the Mizoram Chief Ministers Office (CMO) said that the Prime Minister expressed his willingness to do so in person, subject to the availability of time in his schedule.
After the inauguration of the 51.38 km long Bairabi-Sairang new railway project, Mizorams Aizawl would be the fourth capital city in the northeast region to be connected by a railway network.
An official of the Northeast Frontier Railway (NFR) said that the Commissioner of Railway Safety (CRS), Northeast Frontier Circle, Sumeet Singhal, after visiting the newly laid railway tracks between June 6 and June 10, authorised the NFR to operate both goods and passenger trains on the line.
The Bairabi-Sairang new railway project has been divided into four sections — Bairabi-Hortoki (16.72 km, commissioned in July 2024), Hortoki-Kawnpui (9.71 km), Kawnpui-Mualkhang (12.11 km), and Mualkhang-Sairang (12.84 km).
The NFR official said that this milestone completes the entire 51.38 km new railway line project from Bairabi, near Assams Hailakandi district, to Sairang, near Aizawl city, bringing direct rail connectivity to the Mizoram state capital for the first time.
This transformative achievement is expected to significantly enhance passenger and freight movement, stimulate socio-economic growth, and fulfil a long-standing aspiration of the people of Mizoram to see trains arriving in the heart of their capital, the official said.
Despite the tough terrain, commendable work has been carried out by the NFR. The official said that the Bairabi-Sairang new line railway project is an engineering marvel of the Indian Railways. The project, which lies in mountainous terrain, consists of 48 tunnels and 142 bridges (55 major and 87 minor bridges).
The total length of tunnels in this project is 12,853 meters. The height of bridge number 196 is 104 metres, which is 42 metres taller than the Qutub Minar. The project also includes five Road Over Bridges and six Road Under Bridges.
After the inauguration of the Bairabi-Sairang new railway line, Mizoram’s capital, Aizawl, would become the fourth NE state capital to be linked to the countrys railway network after Assam, Tripura and Arunachal Pradesh.