Landslides hit train services in few NE states, affects supply of essentials, fuels

Movement of passengers and transport of goods, including essentials, has been affected in southern Assam, Tripura, Mizoram and Manipur for the past two weeks, due to the restricted movement of trains in the region, officials said on Tuesday.

Northeast Frontier Railway (NFR) sources said that the operation of passenger and goods trains has been affected since April 25 owing to heavy landslides, and damage to railway tracks after heavy rains in Assam’s mountainous Dima Hasao district, which is a connecting route to south Assam, Tripura, Manipur, and Mizoram.

Hundreds of workers and technicians, led by several top railway engineers, are working round-the-clock to fully restore the train services between Jatinga-Lumpur and New Harangajao stations under the Lumding division of NFR.

"We have removed the debris from the mudslides and partially rectified the railway tracks that pass through the mountainous areas. That’s why we are only operating trains in the daytime and stopping train services at night in the hilly route," a senior NFR engineer told IANS.

He said that to closely monitor the railway tracks, fragile soil conditions and other related aspects, eight watch towers were installed and through these, railway personnel monitor the situation round-the-clock.

The engineer said that it was uncertain when the normal train services through the Dima Hasao district would be resumed.

Given the inclement and unpredictable weather conditions and for the safety of the passengers and goods trains, train movements are being restricted and this will continue till the railway tracks are fully restored.

"The NFR has taken some long-term plans to construct tunnels and elevated railway tracks to resolve the lasting solutions to the recurring problems," the engineer said.

According to the officials, the stock of fuel -- petrol and diesel – and other essential goods in southern Assam, Tripura, Mizoram, and parts of Manipur are not adequate in view of restrictions on goods train movement.

After the damages to railway tracks and landslides in the hill section of southern Assam, the Tripura and Mizoram governments, on May 2, ordered rationing of the purchase of petrol and diesel for different types of vehicles.

Tripura’s Food and Civil Supplies Department Director Nirmal Adhikari held a meeting with the representatives of the Tripura Merchants' Association (TMA) and Tripura Wholesale Grocery Merchants' Association (TWGMA) to review the situation. An official said that there is no need to panic as the state has food stock for around a month, but the state government would take up the issue at the highest level.