16th June target missed; NF Railways "hopeful" to restore track in Badarpur-Lumding section by 18th

Rail communication to Barak Valley is disrupted since 1st of June after sinkage of the track at km 57/0-1 between Mupa & Maibang stations of hill section, owing to incessant rainfall in the hills.

Along with Barak Valley, connection to three other states of Northeast- Tripura, Mizoram, and Manipur were also snapped as the hill acts as a lifeline for these states.

Railway authorities at that time estimated to restore the rail track within 10 days followed by a new target of 6 more days but the geographically unstable hills giving tough time to the railway employees and the labourers.

Sources informed, around 30 meters of the newly laid track again suffered sinkage causing a further delay of restoration efforts.

Speaking to Barak Bulletin, NFR CPRO Subhanan Chanda shared that he hopes the line will be ready for a test in the next two days. “Work is still going on and will take some more time. Hopefully, it should be cleared by day after tomorrow,” Chanda asserted.

A slight diversion from the original track has also been made in the damaged section. Speaking on that, CPRO mentioned that the original alignment cannot be repaired as the slope of the hill has got impaired. “The alignment had to be shifted by 100 to 150 meters… a little bit towards the hill.”

It can be mentioned here that the GM of Northeastern Frontier railway also visited the damaged site on Tuesday and took stock of the restoration activity there.

According to the latest received information, railwaymen are trying to relay the track at damaged km 57/0-3.