The world’s tallest pier railway bridge, with a height of 141 metres, is being constructed as part of the Jiribam-Imphal railway project which has already achieved physical progress of 93.30 per cent, officials said on Sunday.
With the completion of the 111-km-long Jiribam-Imphal railway project by December this year, Manipur capital would come onto the Indian Railways network, making Imphal the fourth capital city in the northeastern region to have a rail link.
Northeast Frontier Railway’s (NFR) Chief Public Relations Officer Sabyasachi De said that the Rs 14,322 crore project is one of the crucial connectivity projects for the northeastern region and it is at an advanced stage of completion.
He said that the construction of the railway project involves multiple tunnels and bridges in tough terrain with the total length of tunnels in this project being 61.32 km, out of which 59.11 km of tunnelling work has already been completed.
The project would have total 11 major bridges and 137 minor bridges, out of which work for five major bridges and 101 minor bridges have been completed so far.
The section from Jiribam to Khongsang has already been commissioned earlier for train service.
After completion of the entire project, the present road journey time of about 10 hours to reach Imphal from Jiribam would be reduced to 2.5 hours by railways.
The NFR has been putting their full effort by working 24X7 for the completion of this project dealing with all the challenges including heavy rainfall and other logistic hindrances, De said.
The CPRO said that the Jiribam-Imphal rail project would provide enhanced connectivity to the people of Manipur, help grow small-scale industries in the area and boost the tourism of the state.
It would also help in receiving essential commodities faster in the state and help the state’s local producers to export their products outside the state faster.
The economy of the state would receive a boost, the official stated.
Assam’s main city of Guwahati (adjoining capital Dispur), Tripura capital Agartala and Arunachal Pradesh’s Naharlagun (adjacent to capital city Itanagar) are already on the railway network.
