Union Railways Minister Suresh Prabhu inaugurated the landmark Silchar-Lumding broad gauge rail line in Assam. Prabhu flagged off a passenger train from New Delhi via video-conference. The rail line brings Assam’s underdeveloped but strategically important Barak Valley on the broad gauge map. The rail line would accelerate development, as it is the lifeline of Barak Valley and Tripura, Manipur and Mizoram.

The Lumding-Silchar Gauge Conversion Project under the Northeast Frontier Railway was sanctioned in 1996-97 and was declared a National Project in 2004. The project was hit by insurgency from 2006 to 2009. The Territorial Army had to be deployed to take on the insurgents. The line passes through 21 tunnels and has 75 major bridges and 340 minor bridges along the track.

Did You Know???

• Suresh Prabhu is a Chartered Accountant by profession and a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India. He presently represents Haryana in Upper House of Indian Parliament.
• The longest platform in the world is at Kharagpur and is 2,733 ft. in length.
• Indian Railways carries over 13 million passengers & 1.3 million tones of freight everyday.
• The total distance covered by the 14,300 trains on the Indian Railways everyday, equals three & half times the distance to moon.
• The Vivek Express, between Dibrugarh and Kanyakumari, has the longest run in terms of distance and time on Indian Railways  network. It covers 4,286 km (2,663 mi) in about 82 hours and 30 minutes.

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