The doubling of the Digaru-Hojai segment of Guwahati-Lumding section is in all likelihood to be completed within the current fiscal. The completion of the 102-km long Digaru-Hojai segment will make the railway route in the region double-tracked and facilitate the movement of more freight trains, news agency PTI reported. The doubling of the Digaru-Hojai segment is being undertaken under the Northeast Frontier Railway (NFR). A NFR spokesperson told PTI that the project is going to be completed within the current fiscal of 2021-22.
With the completion of the project, states like Manipur, Mizoram, Tripura, Assam and Nagaland will be connected with more freight trains. The movement of more freight trains in the region will boost economic activities and help accelerate the economic growth of the region.
It is pertinent to note that the central government had announced the target of doubling the Digaru-Hojai segment in its budget document of the year 2015-16. A few months later in 2016, the central government had laid the foundation stone for the project. The Digaru-Hojai segment is part of the Guwahati-Lumding section and increased connectivity with Assam’s largest city Guwahati will boost the trade and economic growth of the whole North-East region. About 50 km of track-line of the project had been commissioned in the fiscal 2020-21 and the remaining is to be accomplished within the current fiscal. In addition to the increase in the number of freight trains that will be operating in the region, the movement of passenger trains will also improve with improved travel time and speed, the spokesperson added.