GUWAHATI, Jan 27 - The Railway authorities have said the movement of goods trains in the Northeast Frontier Railway (NFR) zone has been streamlined to a great extent after the commissioning of the Bogibeel rail-cum-road bridge across the Brahmaputra.
�A large number of benefits have resulted due to the availability of the alternative path for the movement of goods trains from and to the upper Assam area via the north bank route. For goods trains travelling to upper Assam bypassing Guwahati have not only reduced the distance from and to Dibrugarh by 170 kilometres as compared to the south bank, there is a significant reduction in the requirement of manpower for the running of these goods trains too,� said Pranav Jyoti Sharma, Chief Public Relations Officer (CPRO) of the Northeast Frontier Railway.
He said another significant benefit is the decrease in wagon turnaround time which is the average time required for a railway wagon to come back to its point of origin after having unloaded its consignment in the destination.
�The shorter turnaround time means more economic and more effective wagon utilisation,� he said.
A number of rakes have moved in the up direction towards Dibrugarh and Tinsukia and as well as in the down direction from Dibrugarh and Tinsukia after the commissioning of the Bogibeel Bridge.
Sharma said �upward rakes� mostly carry petroleum products for BCPL at Bongaigaon, FCI food grains and cement, while downward rakes carry fertilizer from Namrup, petroleum products from the Digboi Refinery and coal from Ledo.
�With the opening of this alternative route through the north bank of Brahmaputra, the rail network in the south bank has been relieved of substantial operational pressure. This has not only led to an increase in the average speed of trains but has also given much more time for maintenance of tracks, bridges and other assets in the south bank network,� the NF Railway CPRO added.
