A view of the Katakhal bridge. Picture by Satananda Bhattacharjee

Sept. 22: Commuters who shuttle back and forth from Barak Valley can heave a huge sigh of relief, finally.

The century-old Katakhal rail-cum-road bridge in Hailakandi district will now be left free for vehicular traffic only, since the Northeast Frontier Railway (NFR) has decided to run trains from Katakhal on the newly-constructed broad-gauge bridge from October 31.

Traffic will no longer have to be blocked at both ends, as on a level crossing, before allowing a train to cross. Its a common sight to see a long queue of stranded cars during the passing of the train, creating long traffic snarls on the approach road.

The NFR had recently released Rs 30 crore for repairing Katakhal bridge after one of the bridge’s pillars had tilted two months back. The old metre gauge rail-cum-road bridge was shared by both rail and road traffic. The soon-to-be opened broad gauge rail bridge was planned some years back to relieve the inconvenience caused to commuters, the “old age” of the bridge and to meet the requirements of the ongoing Lumding-Silchar gauge conversion project.

According to the NFR’s chief public relations officer Trikalagya Rabha, the railways will hand over the old bridge to the state government for road-users, as it will no longer be required after the diversion of railway traffic.

“The state government has been formally requested to take charge of the maintenance of this bridge. Till the diversion takes place, the NFR will continue to maintain the said bridge. Hereafter, connectivity in this region is expected to improve significantly with two exclusive bridges for road-users and one for trains,” a statement issued by Rabha added.

Union minister Sontosh Mohan Dev and MP Lalit Mohan Suklavaidya had mounted pressure on the railways to resolve the problems being faced by commuters. Suklavaidya had even raised the issue relating to the people of the entire south Assam, Mizoram, Tripura and parts of Manipur in the Parliament.

Various political parties and other organisations sent several representations to the Union railway minister Lalu Prasad. Sontosh Mohan Dev personally met Lalu Prasad last July and requested the early completion of the gauge conversion project.