MALIGAON, Nov 18: To fulfil the longstanding demand of the people of Barak Valley, Manipur and Mizoram for direct and convenient connectivity with southern India, Minister of State for Railways, Rajen Gohain, flagged off the Silchar- Thiruvananthapuram Express in Silchar today. Assam CM Sarbananda Sonowal graced the occasion as the chief guest.

Silchar does not only have a historical significance as an important focal point of commerce, transport, culture and politics of the Barak Valley, but also acts as the commercial hub for the people of Mizoram and Manipur. Hence effective and efficient transport connectivity with the southern part of India was urgently needed, which has been fulfilled by the introduction of this train. This would also help the people of this region to reach the modern and specialised medical hospitals located in Chennai directly.

With the introduction of direct train, the transit time will be reduced significantly when compared to the previous system. The service will be commenced on a weekly basis with 24 coaches comprising of two GSLR, one General class, one General chair car, fourteen Sleeper class, four AC-3 tier, one AC-2 tier and one pantry car.

  In the course of its 3935-km long journey covering within 74.35 hours, the train will connect several important places including Badarpur, New Halflong, Maibong, Lumding, Hojai, Guwahati,New Jalpaiguri, Howrah, Kharagpur, Cuttak, Bhubneswar, Visakhapatnam, Vijayawada, Katpadi Jn., Salem Jn., Coimbatore and Chennai Central.

It is worth mentioning here that since the past three years, developmental activities of the Railways in Barak Valley have been massively increasing. There has been no looking back since the Guwahati-Silchar Fast Passenger was introduced on 21^st November 2015, inaugurated by the former Railway Minister, Suresh Prabhu and connecting two major cities of the country through BG trains.

These activities are a part of a larger step that has been taken by the Government of India to give a new look to the Indian Railways and to connect every corner of the country to the rest of India.

On the occasion, in his welcome speech, General Manager, NF Railway Chahatey Ram, said that this is a big day for Silchar and further assured that more trains will soon be launched for ease of railway traffic in the coming time.

Minister of State for Railway, Rajen Gohain too expressed his happiness over this new move and assured better train service for the people of the Barak Valley region. 

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Kenter Joya Riba

(Managing Editor)
      She is a graduate in Science with post graduation in Sociology from University of Pune. She has been in the media industry for nearly a decade. Before turning to print business, she has been associated with radio and television.
Email: kenterjoyaz@easternsentinel.in / editoreasternsentinel@gmail.com
Phone: 0360-2212313

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