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| The scenic Lumding - Badarpur hill section, Photo Courtesy: www.jonathanswordlyimages.com |
According to a notification
by NF Railway, the 05697/05698 Hill Queen Express will start plying to and from
Silchar from 1st March, 2013 onwards. While the Lumding bound train
will start from Silchar at 6.30 AM and reach its destination at 5.30 PM, the
train from Lumding will start at 9.30 AM.
The best part about the
introduction of this train is that, it will provide connectivity with the Jan
Shatabdi Express, which will help the people of the valley reach Guwahati by
train within a day’s time. The 12067 Jan Shatabdi Express leaves Guwahati at
6.30 AM every morning and reaches Lumding at 9.25 AM, while the 12068 Jan Shatabdi
bound for Guwahati leaves Lumding at 6.10 PM every evening and reaches its
destination at 9 PM.
If run professionally,
this train will help passengers avoid the ordeals of tavelling by the
treacherous highway to Guwahati. Many will also be able to avoid the hassle of
paying humongous amounts to travel to the state capital by air. However, NF
Railway’s poor performance record still leaves us in doubt regarding the
possibility of this train serving its intended purpose.
Moreover, services on this
route get hampered every year during the monsoons due to landslides. Therefore,
along with the other trains on the route, this service is also bound to bow
down to the vagaries of nature during the rainy season. One also hopes, that the authorities do not
ignore the other two trains running on this route – the Cachar Express and the
Barak Valley Express after the introduction of this new train.
Many insiders from the
Railways who have worked on the Lumding – Badarpur section confess that the
more than a century old railway line has become much weaker than before with
the passage of time. With the parallel construction of the broad gauge line,
the authorities are also not too keen to spend on the maintenance of this line
anymore. Therefore, maintaining regular
services on this single line corridor will indeed be a major challenge for the
Railways.
Rather unfortunately, many
organisations in the Dima Hasao district have protested the extension of this
train up to Silchar. They are apprehensive that the train so far, running only
up to Lower Haflong will get filled up even before it reaches Haflong or
Maibong and the people of the district, for whom it was originally introduced,
will no more be able to enjoy its benefits.
They have threatened to block
the movement of goods trains up to Barak Valley on 27th February, if
their demands are not considered. The leaders
have also warned of disrupting the entire rail traffic on the hill section in
the future to protest against this new decision.
The Railways should look
into their demands and consider the option of introducing additional coaches in
the train to and from Lower Haflong to Lumding so that the people of the hills
continue to enjoy the exclusive benefits of this special train. However, to
protest the extension of this train up to Barak Valley would be undemocratic
and against the ethos of peaceful coexistence.
Moreover, the present
route of the Hill Queen Express does not cover almost one third of the Dima
Hasao district. The railway line inside the district extends up to Bandarkhal
on the way to Badarpur, which is almost 75 kilometres from Lower Haflong. The extension
of the train up to Silchar will take it to many important railway stations of
the Dima Hasao district such as Jatinga and Harangajao. The Dima Hasao district and Barak Valley have peacefully coexisted for years. Both the regions have benefitted from each other in many ways. While the people of Barak Valley have travelled through Dima Hasao both by rail and road to reach mainland India, Dima Hasao has benefitted from having a major business centre like Silchar in its vicinity. In fact, the extension of this train also means that Haflong will have another means of communication to reach Silchar, which will definitely boost the district’s economy.
Therefore, the people of both the regions must come together and help in improving the connectivity of the entire southern Assam. We have fought the battle for the introduction of broad gauge in the region together and so, should not let such narrow sentiments come in the way of our mutual harmony and brotherhood.
Student organisations in Halflong has protested against this idea which will benefit Barak Valley.
ReplyDeleteOrganizations in N.C.Hills (Dima Hasao) are protesting against Hill Queen Express train's extension to Barak Valley. They want to keep the train within their district which is economically not feasible.
ReplyDeleteIt is a welcome move by the Indian Railways. Hope they keep their promise and do not come under pressure from N.C.hills
Very nice article. Having read both side of the story, I like how it ends. The problem how ever is we as human beings lack common sense and cannot thing of greater common good. And the problem is from both sides. A train that starts from Silchar is not only bound to have less seats for the NC hill areas, but also will be late by at least an hour. Further, is the hill queen, as the name suggest any better in quality that the other two express trans we had? May be a touch better. Will the jan shatabdhis reach in sync with the queen? Who knows. These are some of the questions that come. All said and done it is important to at least start and worry about the imbalances later. Its is important to know them and then correct them. And the major obstacle is us, as very rightly put in the article.
ReplyDeleteWhen people of Dima Hasao can fight in such a manner then why not us? Hill Queen Express would have been a boom for us but here again we failed to defend our right.
ReplyDeleteTeam Silchar Today
www.silchartoday.com