Silchar, Nov. 21: Fifty-five year-old Krishna Das's much-awaited dream to become a vendor of a broad-gauge (BG) train came true this morning as the first passenger train along the newly laid Silchar-Lumding route was flagged off from Silchar railway station.
"I was a tea vendor on metre gauge trains. But we lost our jobs after the serviceswere discontinued last October. I faced a lot of hurdles to earn two square meals a day. But now I can say that my life will change from today," Das said.
After reaching the station early in the morning, Das first touched the train and kneeled down in front of it. "It might be a simple train for the people, but for me it's something special as we earn our livelihood here," he added.
Gautam Sutradhar, who owns a tea stall on platform number 1, said, "The wait is over. It's time to celebrate."
"Now my children will not have to sleep at night without having food," said another vendor, Suman Ghosh. The station witnessed huge excitement and enthusiasm of the people as the train chugged out of Silchar station.
Local resident Sukanta Sutradhar boarded the train to fulfil his grandfather's dream. "My grandfather Sudhir Sutradhar, who died four years ago, had a dream to board a broad gauge train from Silchar. Today, I boarded this train in his memory," Sutradhar said.
Businessman Hanumanmal Surana, who bought the first ticket of the first BG train from here, was a proud man. "I had a dream to become the first passenger of the first BG train from Silchar. I am extremely happy to be a part of the historic journey," Surana said.
Union railway minister Suresh Prabhakar Prabhu flagged off the 15-bogey 55616 Silchar-Guwahati BG passenger train at 10.51am from here through remote control by organising a video-conference with Rail Bhawan, New Delhi. The train will reach Guwahati via Lumding.
Union sports minister Sarbananda Sonowal, Union minister of state for railways Manoj Sinha, Silchar MP Sushmita Dev, Assam ministers Gautam Roy and Ajit Singh, Silchar legislator Dilip Paul, among others, were present at the flagging-off ceremony. The move not only fulfils the long-pending demand of the Barak Valley people to have a seamless connectivity with the rest of the country, but also brings the hitherto isolated states of Tripura, Mizoram and Manipur closer.
Prabhu said Indian Railways was committed to improving its infrastructure in the Northeast. "We allotted an all-time high budget of Rs 5,200 crore for the projects in the region in 2014-15. The tempo has been maintained in 2015-16 also by providing Rs 5,300 crore," he added.
The railways had been commissioning about 133km of broad gauge track every year in the Northeast in the last 4-5 years, Prabhu said. In 2014-15, a record was made when about 450km of lines were commissioned. "This year again, we will achieve a new record of commissioning of about 550km of BG lines in the region," he added.
Sinha said the BG train service would reach Agartala by February next year. He added that more trains would be introduced along Silchar-Lumding route by next month.
The 210km Lumding-Silchar BG project was sanctioned in 1996-97 at an initial cost of Rs 648 crore.
The first BG engine chugged into Silchar on March 13. Altogether 72 workers of the NF Railway died during the construction of the project.
