History was made on date with Itanagar – the capital of Arunachal Pradesh – coming on the Railway Map of India. The first daily passenger train service on the Harmuti – Naharlagun (Itanagar) Broad Gauge section under Rangiya Division of N. F. Railway started with a pair of passenger trains (No. 55613 / 55614) between Dekargaon and Naharlagun this morning. As train number 55613 Up started from the newly-opened Dekargaon (Tezpur) station at 7.00 A.M. today, a new vista on rail map of India was opened. The train reached Naharlagun, about 13 kilometres into Arunachal Pradesh in Lower Subansiri district, at 12.30 P.M.bringing the state into Indian Railway map. on the return journey, train number 55614 will leave Naharlagun at 01.30 P.M. to reach Dekargaon at 7.15 P.M.
Before this, Arunachal Pradesh had only 1.26 km railway line inside its border with the only station being Bhalukpong in East Kameng district. In line with Railway’s goal of providing connectivity to all state capitals of the northeastern region, a survey was conducted in 1997 for a new line from Harmuti to Itanagar and the project was sanctioned in 1996-97 Railway Budget as a Metre Gauge line. The approval of the state government was received in 2006, but the alignment had to be changed in 2010 on the request of the state government and finally the line was taken up as a Broad Gauge line from Harmuti to Naharlagun (9 km in Assam+12.75 km in Arunachal Pradesh = 21.75 km).
The line from Harmuti traverses 6 kms in Lakhimpur District of Assam before entering Lower Subansiri and runs along the left bank of river Dikong for about 7 km up to Doimukh before crossing the river. The approximate cost of construction of the line was `406 crores. There 46 minor bridges and 11 major bridges on the line.
Before this, Arunachal Pradesh had only 1.26 km railway line inside its border with the only station being Bhalukpong in East Kameng district. In line with Railway’s goal of providing connectivity to all state capitals of the northeastern region, a survey was conducted in 1997 for a new line from Harmuti to Itanagar and the project was sanctioned in 1996-97 Railway Budget as a Metre Gauge line. The approval of the state government was received in 2006, but the alignment had to be changed in 2010 on the request of the state government and finally the line was taken up as a Broad Gauge line from Harmuti to Naharlagun (9 km in Assam+12.75 km in Arunachal Pradesh = 21.75 km).
The line from Harmuti traverses 6 kms in Lakhimpur District of Assam before entering Lower Subansiri and runs along the left bank of river Dikong for about 7 km up to Doimukh before crossing the river. The approximate cost of construction of the line was `406 crores. There 46 minor bridges and 11 major bridges on the line.