Murkongselek, Aug. 10: It goes back to the days when a group of Burmese soldiers plundering Assam waited here with their loot to return home. All of a sudden indigenous groups from nearby hills attacked them at night forcing them to flee with whatever they could grab.

Much later, when people went to the area that had turned into a thatch ( selek) field to collect thatch, they found coins (murkong) left by the Burmese soldiers. So they called the field Murkongselek (in Mising language), which is now home to the last train station on the north bank of Assam, from where the first broad gauge train started its journey this afternoon.

Union railway minister Suresh Prabhu pressed a remote button to flag off the train from New Delhi.

The station is 2km from Jonai town in Dhemaji district of Assam and 35km from Pasighat in Arunachal Pradesh.

Now, no one gets coins at Murkongselek, but everyone hopes that the new broad gauge service from here will have a far-reaching economic impact on not only the people of this area but also Arunachal Pradesh.

At least five districts of Arunachal - East Siang, Middle Siang, Upper Siang, West Siang and Upper Subansiri - depend on Murkongselek station.

"Now you can travel to Guwahati in less than half the fare of a night super bus," said Purna Borsaikia, a retired government employee.

The train service was stopped in 2011 to convert the meter gauge into broad gauge. The Rangiya Murkongselek Gauge Conversion Project has been completed at an approximate cost of Rs 2,985 crore.

People who gathered at the station since morning to witness the "historical" moment were unhappy when the railways first scheduled the departure time of the Murkongselek-Guwahati Intercity Express at 11pm.

But when Union minister Sarbananda Sonowal announced that after three rounds of discussions, NF Railway hadagreed to change the time to 8pm from October 1, people welcomed the decision with a round of applause. The first train was, however, stopped by people at Telem demanding that the Intercity Express stop there and at Simen Chapori.

Another new train opened a new chapter in connectivity between Assam and Arunachal Pradesh. The Dekargaon-Bhalukpong passenger train was inaugurated by Union minister of state for home Kiren Rijiju at Bhalukpong station this afternoon. This train was also flagged off by Prabhu from New Delhi. Rijiju said the train would benefit the people of the hill areas in West Kameng district and also part of the East Kameng and Tawang districts.

The minister said extension of the service from Bhalukpong to Tawang in the next phase would be of great help to security personnel.

"Transportation of essential goods via trains would further help, Bhalukpong being the main transit point of the three districts," Rijiju said. Bhalukpong is about 52km from Tezpur in Sonitpur district.

Additional reporting by Pranab Kumar Das and Vinod Kumar Singh