V.K. Gupta, member engineering (ME) of Railway Board said that railways has commissioned around 4,800 km of broad gauge track in the last two years which includes about 1,200 km of new line, 1,900 km of gauge conversion and 1,700 km of doubling.

“In the North-East region, Indian Railways commissioned about 900 km of broad gauge in the last two years, leaving only about 50 km of metre gauge lines to be converted in 2016-17. In addition, a 132 km part of third alternative connectivity route to the North-East (New Maynaguri – Jogighopa) was also commissioned,” Gupta said here.

“Udhampur-katra (25 km) railway line in Jammu and Kashmir, Rangapara-Murkongselek and Balipara-Bhalukpong (362 km) section in Arunachal Pradesh, Lumding-Silchar (210 km) gauge conversion in Assam are some of the important railway lines commissioned in the last two years,” he added.

He further said that railways was committed to bring the North-East region on the railway map.

“Passenger services have been introduced between Silchar and Agartala, thereby bringing, the capital of Tripura on broad gauge. Similarly, Dudhnoi-Mendipathar (20 km) new line has brought Meghalaya on Indian Railway broad gauge network. With the commissioning of Kathakal-Bhairabi and Arunachal-Jiribam sections, the states of Mizoram and Manipur have also come on broad gauge map of the country,” he informed.

He added that railways have adopted innovative techniques in the last two years which resulted in savings of hundreds of crores.

“Many innovations were done in design of bridges, formation etc. resulting into an immediate saving of about Rs. 700 crores for Northern Railway. In fact, these innovations would result in perpetual savings of thousands of crores every year for Indian Railways,” he concluded.