Shri N. Biren Singh, Hon’ble Chief Minister of Manipur & Smt. Darshana Jardosh, Hon’ble Union Minister of State of Railways & Textiles on 25th August, 2022 co-chaired a meeting to review the progress of the Jiribam - Imphal New Railway line project at Imphal. During the review meeting it was decided to keep the momentum of work in full pace to meet the already set timeline in co-ordination with the state government. Despite the unfortunate landslide which happened near the railway project in Noney District and various other challenges, the entire Railway workforce has been working relentlessly to expedite the completion of the Jiribam - Imphal railway line. Shri Anshul Gupta, General Manager, N.F. Railway and other senior railway and State Govt. officials were also present during the review meeting.
Earlier on 24.08.2022Smt. Darshana Jardosh, Hon’ble Union Minister of State of Railways & Textiles inspected various construction sites along with Shri Anshul Gupta, General Manager, N.F. Railway and other senior railway officials.
The Jiribam – Imphal project is at a stretch of 110 km length. The commissioning of the project has been planned in four phases. In phase – I the section from Jiribam to Vangaichungpao (12 km) has already been commissioned in March, 2017. The phase – II from Vangaichungpao to Khongsang (44 km) work has already been completed, phase – III and phase – IV from Khongsang to Tupul (29 km) and Tupul to Imphal (26 km) are targeted to be completed by March, 2023 and December, 2023 respectively. The anticipated cost of the complete project is around Rs 14322 crores. In this current financial year Rs 1300 crores is planned to be invested.
The Jiribam – Imphal project will cover all the major districts of Manipur viz Jiribam, Tamenglong, Noney, Kangpokpi, Imphal West. It will have 11 major bridges and 129 minor bridges and will run via 11 stations in this route. Presently, the journey from Jiribam to Imphal takes around 10 – 12 hours by road. After completion of this railway project the same distance shall be covered in less than 2 hours. It will also help in receiving of essential commodities faster by the state and also help the state local producers to export their produces outside the state faster.
The construction of the Jiribam – Imphal new BG line project is going on as part of connecting all the state capitals of the NE states through railways. This project will connect Imphal, the capital city of Manipur. Expansion of rail connectivity in Northeast has been the topmost priority of the present Central Government. It may be mentioned here that fund allocation for rail connectivity in NE states has been increased by 254% in last eight years (2014-22) period. It will help in improving connectivity as well as assist the North-eastern region becoming a logistic hub leading to economic transformation.
