The entire tracks of the Northeast Frontier Railway (NFR) will be electrified by the end of this year to facilitate the speedy movement of trains in north Bengal, Northeast and parts of Bihar.
K.K. Sharma, the chief public relations officer of the NFR, said railway minister Ashwini Vaishnaw wanted the electrification to be completed by March 2026.
“But it has been decided that the work will be finished by the end of 2025. The initiative will boost connectivity, enhance operational efficiency and support sustainable transportation in the region,” he said.
Sources in the NFR said despite challenging geographical and logistical conditions, the railways were electrifying the tracks throughout the Northeast.
“The NFR has 4,260.52 route kilometres (RKMs) of tracks. Of them, 2,828 RKMs have been electrified till January 2025. The electrification of the route on which the Rajdhani Expresses run between the Northeast and Delhi will be completed by next month,” said an NFR official.
He said electrification had been completed along major routes like Katihar-Guwahati, Guwahati-Lumding, Lumding-Furkating, Agartala-Sabroom and Agartala-Jiribam.
Unlike other railway zones, the NFR took up the electrification of tracks late. In April 2017, the Katihar–Amritsar Express was the first passenger train that ran on electric traction on the Katihar-Barauni route in Bihar, which is under the jurisdiction of the NFR.
“Major tracks of the NFR were electrified in the past few years. We hope the remaining work will be over by this year. Once it is done, the travel time of both passenger and goods trains will decrease,” said an official.
Sikkim rail meet
Sikkim chief secretary R. Telang on Thursday held a meeting with officials of the Indian Railway Construction International Limited (IRCON) and the NFR to review the progress of the Sivok-Rangpo railway project.
The meeting was held at the state secretariat in Gangtok where the representatives of IRCON that is implementing the project and the NFR apprised the Sikkim government that 70 per cent of the work had been completed.
“The total length of the tracks is around 45km, which is targeted to be completed by December 2027,” said an official source.
Discussions were also held on the extension of the railway tracks to connect Rangpo to Gangtok and Gangtok to Nathu-la.
“The state officials underscored the need for the completion of the project as it would improve connectivity and develop the tourism industry and the economic growth of Sikkim,” the source said.