RANGIYA, Dec 21: Arunachal Pradesh Transport Secretary Dani Salu on Saturday raised several issues pertaining to the activities and functioning of the railways in Arunachal, during a meeting of the Divisional Railway Users Consultative Committee of the Northeast Frontier Railway’s (NFR) Rangiya division here in Assam.
Salu informed reporters that he suggested routing the Dibrugarh-New Delhi Rajdhani Express via the Harmuty-Naharlagun-Rangapara route, and rescheduling the timing of the Guwahati Shatabdi Express from 5 pm to 5:30 pm or 6 pm, with a brief stoppage at the Kamakhya station.
Introduction of new long-distance trains from Naharlagun to Mumbai, Chennai and Bangalore, via Howrah; stepping up security inside the trains; and increasing patrolling at the Naharlagun and Gumto train stations were also brought to their notice.
Salu also called for “impressing upon the banks to set up ATMs at the Naharlagun railway station, as several requests and appeals have been received from the commuters.”
With regard to survey and investigation for a new railway route, Salu urged the committee to “speed up survey and investigation for new railway lines,” and sought early construction of a bridge from the Naharlagun railway station to NH 415 in Lekhi for the convenience of railway passengers.
Introduction of a ‘toy train’ within Tawang town and adjacent areas was also discussed, Salu informed.
He said that NFR Divisional Railway Manager, VA Malegaonkar, informed that the proposal for rerouting the Dibrugarh-Delhi Rajdhani Express and rescheduling the Naharlagun-Itanagar Shatabdi Express is “under active consideration.”
Malegaonkar also informed that the Murkong Selek-Dibrugarh daily train service has been introduced, Salu added.
