Tinsukia, April 25: The Northeast Frontier Railway (NFR) will run the Shatabdi Express, one of its premium trains, between Dibrugarh and Naharlagun from Sunday, a move that will directly connect Upper Assam with the Arunachal Pradesh capital.

Naharlagun railway station is in Papum Pare district, about 15km from Itanagar.

Talking to The Telegraph, the divisional railway manager of Tinsukia, Prashant Mishra, said: "On Sunday, the Shatabdi Express will be flagged off by the minister of state for railways, Rajen Gohain, during an inaugural ceremony at Banipur railway station in Dibrugarh."

The train will operate thrice a week, he added.

So far, there had been no direct rail and air connectivity between the Upper Assam towns and Itanagar.

Earlier, a traveller had to take the road route for direct connectivity and travel almost 600km.

The introduction of a direct train between Dibrugarh and Itanagar will not only make travelling hassle free, but is also likely to open a bunch of opportunities to the people of both the states.

It will also facilitate better connectivity for people living in eastern Arunachal districts like Roing, Namsai, Tezu, Changlang, Tirap and Longding, connected to Itanagar through Upper Assam.

According to sources in the railway, Sunday's run will be an inaugural one.

On a regular run, the train will leave Dibrugarh on Monday, Wednesday and Friday while it will depart from Naharlagun on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday.

According to the tentative schedule for the new train, the 12064 Dn Dibrugarh-Naharlagun will depart from Banipur railway station in Dibrugarh at 5am and reach Naharlagun railway station at 8.15pm the same day, touching Dimapur railway station in Nagaland at 8.57am and Guwahati railway station at 2pm.

On the return journey, the train, 12063 Up Naharlagun-Dibrugarh, will depart from Naharlagun railway station at 5am and reach Banipur railway station at 8.15pm.