Himalayan Times (1961)

April 18, 1961

A SMALL ftAlL WAY WITH BIG PROBLEMS

By Rattan Lall, General Manager, N F R.

( Continued from previous issue )

The .single iine Main
Ljne section . between k.>>-
tihar and Amingaon >a
already saturated and will
hot 08 iiblo to handle
the InoWaseti traffic ex-
peeler!, during the Third
Five, .^ear Plan. In order
$o b'rpak the bottleneck,
Stagier plana < for the de-
velopment 'of the carrying
fta'pfoity "of this Railway
.have already been, drawn
up and aTe .being pro-
gressively executed-

A .Mitre 'G'augfe route
of 15.53'miles from Kn-
'me'dpur to Mnknria (utaiw
Bar'soi) was opened to
goodp traffic in July, 1939.
and to passenger traffic
in December; 1969. ■>

A 20 mile Broad
Gauge line from Kbaju-.
riaghat to Malda Town
wi<h wagon ferry between
Farakka and Khajuriaghat
was opened to public goods
traffic id December, 1960.

"\y"6fk for prdVfsion of
04 mile Broad Gauge line
from Barsoi to Siliguri
Junction is in progress
and ir likely. _lq bej com-
pleted .,in a stjort .time.
CoiiYersion of the Metre
Gauge .Sections "from Rati-
har to Singhabad linking
Malda Town ' (approxima-
tely 69'miles) and from

Mukuria near Barsoi to

Kutnadpur ^15 53 milnB)
into Broad G*uge Line
will provide for tranship-
ment of Broad Gauge to
Metre Giiuge and Narrow
Gauge arid vice-verea traf-
fic

^t-There will chits be a
direct Broad Gauge con-
nection between Calcutta
and Siligiiri with wagon
ferry across the Ga'nga
between Farakka and Khe-
juriaghat Thia route Will
provide for movement tJf
about 100 Broad Gauge
wagons per day '!ahd Will
serve vdrth Bengal requi-
rements.

Construction of metre
gauge .from llsngnpara
North to North Lakhim-
pu'r covering about 107
mile, running along the
stretch of the oountry
between the Brahmputra
and the, Himalayan foot-
hills ha? been taken in
band, lhe first stretch
of 12 mites inoluding the
oonstruotion of the Jia
Bhareli Bridge consisting'
of 9 spans of, 200 ft.
oorfftflenbed in February
I960. Railway materials
have stiried moving o'«r
it since December 1960
npto Jia Bhareli and ac-
ross the Bridge from Feb

Construction of a new
metre gauge line from
Kalkalighat to Dbaram-
tiagar (10.46 miles), which
will link Tripura with
Assam has been sanctioned
and the project in in
progress.

Due to worn out rails,
trains had to be run at
a restricted speed and
for this reason complete
renewal of tiaok for 262
mils* at an'estimated cost
of Ks. 3 croreB has beeti
programmed Up till now
about UK) miles of track
have been Renewed.

Realignnient between
Mai and Baus¥hat, !tb
reduoe the gradient, has
been undertaken. This
and other regrading works
now in progress will in.
crease the load 'capacity
-of the loocirnntitf'es.

To increase safety »rrtl
to permit higher speeds
through station yards all
the stations on the main
line from Katihar to Tin-
sukia except Tirtsukia,
Choparmtikh, .Simnlugilri
Junction and Sripuriagaon
have already been in-
cluded fir intirlocking in
various works'programme*.
The interlocking work rat
all the static tis on the
Katihar-Siliguri Junotitn
section has been completed
and that between ' Fa rid u
and Tinsiikia is in bond.

The Ministry of Rail-
ways has decided to in-
troduce Centralised Traf-
fio Cerrtrol system over