Guwahati/Aizawl, Aug 23 (IANS) Prime Minister Narendra Modi is likely to inaugurate the 51.38 km Bairabi–Sairang new railway project on September 13, making Aizawl the fourth capital city in the Northeast to be connected by rail, a CMO official said on Saturday.

The official in the Chief Minister’s Office (CMO), Mizoram, said that though the final confirmation of the Prime Minister’s schedule is yet to come from the PMO, it is most likely that he would inaugurate the railway project on September 13.

The CMO official said that Mizoram Chief Minister Lalduhoma, while addressing the 15th Conference of the Mizoram Police Service Association (MPSA), indicated that the Prime Minister is likely to flag off the Bairabi–Sairang railway project on September 13.

A senior official of Northeast Frontier Railway (NFR) headquarters in Maligaon (near Guwahati) said that on September 13, the Prime Minister is most likely to inaugurate the 51.38 km new railway line project from Bairabi, near Assam’s Hailakandi district, to Sairang, near Aizawl city, bringing direct rail connectivity to the Mizoram state capital for the first time.

“However, we are waiting for the final confirmation of the Prime Minister’s schedule from the PMO,” the official said.

Mizoram CMO official said that on July 14, Chief Minister Lalduhoma met Prime Minister Modi at his official residence in New Delhi and also invited him to formally inaugurate the newly completed Bairabi–Sairang railway line and the new Sairang Railway Station.

The official of the NFR said that the Commissioner of Railway Safety (CRS), Northeast Frontier Circle, Sumeet Singhal, after visiting the newly laid railway tracks between June 6 and June 10, authorised the NFR to operate both goods and passenger trains on the line.

The Bairabi–Sairang railway project was executed at an estimated cost of Rs 8,215 crore. This transformative achievement is expected to significantly enhance passenger and freight movement, stimulate socio-economic growth, and fulfil a long-standing aspiration of the people of Mizoram to see trains arriving in the heart of their capital, the official said.

Despite the tough terrain, commendable work has been carried out by the NFR.

The official said that the Bairabi-Sairang new line railway project is an engineering marvel of the Indian Railways.

The project, which lies in mountainous terrain, consists of 48 tunnels, 55 major bridges, and 87 minor bridges. The total length of tunnels in this project is 12,853 meters. The height of bridge number 196 is 104 metres, which is 42 metres taller than the Qutub Minar.

The project also includes five Road Over Bridges and six Road Under Bridges.

–IANS

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