Silchar, March 16: The capitals of all the northeastern states will be on broad gauge railway map by 2020.

The general manager of Northeast Frontier Railway (NFR), R.K. Singh, said all the northeastern states, including Sikkim, are going to be connected through broad gauge railway link by March 31, 2020.

Singh told the reporters here last night that broad gauge would reach Agartala by March next year. 'The train will reach Tupul in Manipur by March 2017, Aizawl by March 2018, Imphal by March 2019, and Shillong and Rangpo (near Gangtok) in Sikkim by March 2020,' he added.

He said the NF Railway has chalked out plans to fulfil the targets within the stipulated time frame. He said the construction of the world's tallest railway bridge (bridge number 164), with the height of the pillars up to 141 metres, at None in Manipur is going on in full swing.

The present tallest railway bridge is the Mala-Rijeka viaduct in Montenegro in Europe where the height of pillars is 139 metres.

Expressing his happiness over the completion of Silchar-Lumding broad gauge project within the target date of March 31 this year, Singh said it was a challenging task. 'We are happy that the project was completed within its target date without any major untoward incident. We had made a detailed plan to complete the mega block on Silchar-Lumding route by March 2015 and everything was done according to the plan, which ultimately brought success,' Singh added.

The freight trains will start running on the Silchar-Lumding route before March 31.

Asked about the possibility of any problem in future, especially in the hilly terrain on the Silchar-Lumding route, Singh said there are five to six spots that are very susceptible and problems might arise in these areas, especially during rainy seasons. But he said NF Railway is equipped with all the latest technologies to address any sort of hindrance in the movement of trains.

The 210-km Silchar-Lumding broad gauge route has 21 tunnels, 79 major bridges, 340 small bridges and 28 crossing stations with four halt stations. The maximum permissible speed of the train in hilly area is 70kmph while in plains it is 100kmph.

The foundation stone of Silchar-Lumding project was laid by former Prime Minister H.D. Deve Gowda in the presence of the then Union railway minister Ram Vilas Paswan in April 1996.

The Silchar-Lumding broad gauge project was first scheduled to be completed by 2006, but it dragged on with the constant changing of deadlines, which had an impact on the national exchequer as the project cost shot up from Rs 648 crore to Rs 5,185.44 crore.

Altogether, 70 workers lost their lives during the construction of the Silchar-Lumding line in the past two decades.