Mizoram's Aizawl will be the fourth capital city in the Northeast to come under railway link within the next nine months as the Northeast Frontier Railway (NFR) is laying the new 51.38 km Broad Gauge track up to Sairang, top officials said on Sunday. A senior Mizoram government official said that NFR General Manager Arun Kumar Chaudhary, during a meeting with state Chief Minister Lalduhoma, informed that the 51.38 km new line between Bhairabi (near Assam's Hailakandi District) and Sairang (near Aizawl) expected to be completed by July next year.

The Rs 82.13 billion Bairabi-Sairang railway project is now in advanced stage, a senior NFR official said. Assam's main city of Guwahati (adjoining capital Dispur), Tripura's capital Agartala, and Arunachal Pradesh's Naharlagun (adjacent to capital city Itanagar) are already on the railway network since many years. NFR's Chief Public Relations Officer (CPRO) Kapinjal Kishore Sharma said that the whole Bairabi-Sairang project, once completed, would be a game-changer venture in terms of communication and commerce for the people of Mizoram. The economic and environment-friendly railway services would have a positive impact on almost all development works in the state, he said.

"Over 93 % of the physical works of the Bairabi-Sairang railway project are complete. There are four stations in the 51.38 km route -- Hortoki, Kawnpui, Mualkhang, and Sairang," the CPRO told IANS.

The Bairabi and Sairang railway project is divided into four sections -- Bairabi-Hortoki, Hortoki-Kawnpui, Kawnpui-Mualkhang, and Mualkhang-Sairang. Sharma said that Bhairabi-Hortoki section, which is 17.38 km long, has been completed and was commissioned in July, and train service is operational from August.

The railway project involves 48 tunnels in tough terrains. Of the total length of 12,853 metres tunnels, 12, 807 metres tunneling works have already been completed. The project will have a total 55 major bridges and 87 minor bridges. The work of construction of the tallest pier of the project in the approach of Sairang station has also been completed.

The height of this pier is 104 meters -- 42 meters taller than the Qutub Minar. The project also includes five Road Over Bridges and six Road Under Bridges. The NFR spokesman said that there are many challenges in the execution of this project like very less working seasons due to very heavy and prolonged (more than five months) monsoons, very tough and mountainous terrain through deep forests, poor accessibility, non-availability of construction materials and skilled workers in Mizoram.

However, the NFR is making all-out efforts for fulfilling its commitment towards early completion of the project, Sharma said. The senior Mizoram government official said that the Bairabi-Sairang railway project being a 'National Project' of importance, once completed, would not just be an asset for Mizoram but would be an economic asset for the nation.

He said that the new railway line from Bairabi to Sairang was approved by the Union government in 2008-2009 at an initial cost of Rs 23.84 billion as a national project. Work on the project commenced in 2015. In a setback, at least 24 workers, mostly from West Bengal, were killed and several injured after an under-construction railway bridge of the Bairabi-Sairang railway project collapsed on August 23 last year. The railway bridge was under construction over the Kurung river.