The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) has approved a budget of Rs 2042.51 crores for the mega project of the Railway Ministry to improve the connectivity in Assam and North-East India. The project is to double the 142.97 km-long New Bongaigaon to Agthori via the Rangiya railway line which will connect five districts of Assam. Rail Ministry, headed by Piyush Goyal, is to finish the project by 2022-23.
The Indian Railways project will pass through the districts like Baksa, Barpeta, Bongaigaon, Kamrup, and Nalbari districts and will also provide direct employment to the people in Assam during the construction for around 34.31 lakh man-days. The project will be completed by the Construction Organization of Northeast Frontier Railway.
Due to an increase in load and passenger traffic, the doubling of the New Bongaigaon-Agthori via Rangiya is very much required as it will help in removing the existing capacity constraints of the network. Once the project is completed it will also help in reducing the issues about the congestion of the section and will also help in the overall operative performance of the New Bongaigaon – Agthori via Rangiya.
Indian Railways hopes that the approved multi-crore project will reduce the growing traffic into the North-East region and ensure faster mobility once the doubling of the line in the section is completed. The central government stated that the project became necessary as the line capacity utilization of the section between New Bongaigaon and Agthori via Rangiya is over 100%. It said that traffic on this section will increase as the Rangiya-Murkongselek Broad Gauge line has already been commissioned in 2015-16. Apart from this, the Bogibeel Bridge’s new line has also been commissioned recently.