Union railway minister D.V. Sadananda Gowda interacts with passengers during his visit to Guwahati railway station on Tuesday. (PTI)

Guwahati, Sept. 16: Union railway minister D.V. Sadananda Gowda today reviewed progress of ongoing projects in the Northeast and directed his officials to complete work in a time-bound manner.

He held a high-level meeting with the top officials of the Northeast Frontier Railway (NFR) here and took stock of all ongoing projects in the region.

The minister was briefed about the ongoing work related to 21 new lines, seven gauge conversion and six track doubling projects being carried out at different places.

The total cost of these projects will be around Rs 54,000 crore.

He asked the railway officials to fast track the implementation of the projects, which had remained in limbo for the last several years.

Speaking to reporters, Gowda said he had given priority to complete the ongoing projects as several railway projects remain incomplete.

“The ongoing projects need to be delivered first before taking up new projects,” the minister said.

“I will visit the region once in every six months to review the status of the ongoing projects to ensure time-bound completion of work so that these projects can be dedicated to the people as soon as possible,” he said.

He said Rs 5,400 crore had been allocated and seven new trains announced for the region in the railway budget.

“All northeastern state capitals will be connected by rail in the next five to six years,” said Gowda.

He said the Bogibeel bridge would be completed by June, 2017. “All 41 girders will come up by December 2016, after which it will take another six months to complete the bridge,” he said.

“Two new lines — Dudhnoi to Mendipathar and Harmuti to Naharlagun — are ready for inauguration and I will request Prime Minister Narendra Modi to give a date to inaugurate the two projects.”

He said the mega block of the 210km Lumding-Silchar gauge-conversion work, which is scheduled to start from October 1, would be completed within six months.

According to the minister, the railway would lose revenue to the tune of Rs 100 crore (both passenger and goods traffic) because of the six-month suspension of train services during the mega block.

Gowda said because of the drop in carriage of coal from the Northeast, the railway was expected to suffer revenue loss of Rs 50 crore per annum. The drop has been attributed to the National Green Tribunal’s ban on rat-hole coal mining in Meghalaya.

He took a tour of Guwahati railway station and inspected platforms, restrooms, lavatories, kitchen and ticket booking counters. He also interacted with passengers about amenities at the station.

The minister said cleanliness, passenger amenities and catering were his main focus areas, besides ensuring safety, security and punctuality.

NFR general manager R.S. Virdi and general manager (construction) R.K. Singh apprised him about the achievements of the railway.