Barak Valley remains deprived: NF Railways adds more services of Guwahati-Haflong Vistadome special for festive

A leading Bengali daily published from Silchar had carried a piece of news stating Vistadome special’s third trip will be extended up to Silchar. The daily quoted Silchar MP Dr Rajdeep Roy saying so. Either the Bengali daily carried an erroneous report or the MP was ill-informed. Three, four, ten, twenty… fifty, trips after trips, NF Railways kept Vistadome special restricted between Guwahati and New Haflong.

The plans of Vistadome Special in the Silchar – Guwahati section was first brought to light by former Railway Minister Piyush Goyal. After a review meeting, he had urged the department to propose a Vistadome Special in the Lumding – Badarpur section for the people to enjoy the rich natural beauty that lies unexplored in the hill section. As per plans, Vistadome started but from Guwahati to New Haflong. Several demands for extension till Barak Valley were raised and the member of parliament himself went to meet the new Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw. It seems, the minister ignored the request submitted by the MP.

Meanwhile, NF Railways issued a press statement yesterday announcing additions to the existing Vistadome Special service. While one would expect the addition to be inclusion of new routes, that isn’t the case. “Taking care of needs of our passengers and to fulfil the demand of our tourists during the upcoming festive season, the Northeast Frontier Railway has decided to provide more services of the popular Vistadome Special trains during this month in addition to existing Vistadome Special services,” stated the press statement issued by NF Railways.

Among these additional services – one train will run between New Jalpaiguri and Alipurduar junction; another will run between Guwahati and New Haflong.  Train No. 05890/05891 Guwahati – New Haflong – Guwahati Vistadome special will run on 5th, 7th, 8th , 10th , 11th , 12th , 14th , 15th  and 17th  October, 2021. Train No. 05890 Guwahati – New Haflong Vistadome special will leave from Guwahati at 06:35 hours to reach New Haflong at 11:55 hours. In the return direction, train No. 05891 New Haflong – Guwahati Vistadome special will leave from New Haflong at 17:00 hours to reach Guwahati at 22:45 hours. The train will have stoppages at Manderdisa and Maibong stations. Earlier, Vistadome Special used to run only twice a week.

The NF Railways has also announced the change of timings of a passenger train running between Silchar and Jiribam.  Operational days and timings of the passenger special trains connecting Jiribam in Manipur with Silchar in Assam will be changed from 7th October, 2021.

Changed days and timings of passenger special train: Train No. 05659 Silchar – Jiribam passenger special will run two days a week- on Monday and Wednesday leaving from Silchar at 16-55 hours to reach Jiribam at 20-00 hours. In the return direction, Train No. 05660 Jiribam – Silchar passenger special will run two days a week- on Tuesday and Thursday leaving from Jiribam at 06-00 hours to reach Silchar at 09-20 hours. This change in timing has been done to fulfil the long-standing demand of the people of Jiribam.