Train services again disrupted in parts of NE due to landslides

Guwahati, July 7 (IANS) Railway services between South Assam, Tripura, Manipur, Mizoram, and the rest of the country via Guwahati were once again disrupted on Monday due to landslides in the Lumding-Badarpur Hill section, officials said.

Northeast Frontier Railway (NFR) Chief Public Relations Officer (CPRO) Kapinjal Kishore Sharma said that trains running in the Lumding - Badarpur Hill section got disrupted due to a landslide between Mupa-Dihakho stations of Lumding Division.

As a result of the landslide, the track has been suspended until clearance of boulders and earth that have fallen on the track. Help desks have been opened to facilitate passengers at Guwahati, Lumding, Silchar, Badarpur and Agartala stations, Sharma said.

As a result of the landslide, the NFR has partially cancelled, rescheduled, and regulated ten important express trains connecting New Tinsukia (Assam), Secunderabad (Hyderabad), Kolkata, Agartala, Sealdah, Anand Vihar (Delhi), Bengaluru, Sabroom (Tripura), Guwahati, and Silchar.

On receiving information, senior railway officials have reached the site to start restoration work, another NFR official said, adding that the work is underway in full swing under the supervision of senior engineers and officials.

Since June 23, South Assam, Tripura, Manipur, and Mizoram have been disconnected by railway network from the rest of the country for the third time due to landslides on the single-line railway track.

After a day's disruption due to landslides, normal train services in the region resumed on July 4.

Earlier, after a week of disruption due to landslides in the same Lumding-Badarpur Hill section, regular train services between South Assam, Tripura, Manipur, Mizoram, and the rest of the country via Guwahati fully resumed on June 30.

The vital train services in the Lumding-Badarpur Hill Section of the Lumding division have been disrupted since June 23 after landslides badly affected the railway track in the mountainous areas under Assam's Dima Hasao district.

During the monsoon period (June to September), every year, several northeastern states, especially Tripura, Mizoram, Manipur and southern Assam, remain cut off from the rest of the country for weeks owing to landslides, waterlogging and damage to railway tracks, leading to hardship for the people of the region.

--IANS

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