GUWAHATI, Feb 15 - The Assam Rail Passengers� Association (ARPA) has called upon Union Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu to pay special attention to the State and the entire North Eastern region in the forthcoming Railway Budget.
Dipankar Sharma, general secretary of ARPA, said that the North East has been ignored by successive governments over the years during preparation of the Railway Budget.
�We want to see a change this time. We call upon the Railway Ministry to give utmost importance to the infrastructural needs of the North East with regard to strengthening the rail network in the region,� he said.
Sharma said that even many old announcements like the Rs 1,789 crore New Bongaigaon-Agyathuri alternative broad gauge line have been left in the cold.
�The line capacity via the existing mainline has already exceeded capacity. The New Bongaigaon-Agyathuri was sanctioned in 2013-14 but it is still sitting with the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA). The Budget should fix a time-frame for the start and completion of the project,� Sharma said.
He said that there is massive shortage of rakes in the North East and the problem should be addressed.
�We also need more passenger terminals, including one at New Guwahati,� Sharma said. He called upon the government to take up work on double-tracking of the rail line in the region and improving passenger amenities.
�More long-distance and local trains are needed. Whenever we make this demand, the Ministry cites saturation of lines and shortage of terminals to deprive us of new trains, but, at the same time, no step has been taken for doubling of tracks and setting up of new terminals,� Sharma said.
ARPA has also demanded stoppages of the Rajdhani Express at Rangiya and Kamakhya for benefit of people from the North Bank.
�Another major and long-standing demand of the people of the region has been for the bifurcation of the Northeast Frontier Railway (NFR) by separating the region falling in Bihar and West Bengal. The NFR should be only for the North Eastern states. We hope the Railway Minister will make an announcement in the Budget in this regard,� Sharma said.