Lok Sabha Question No. 2229 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2025-03-12
Subject: Connectivity of Imphal through Rail
Ministry: RAILWAYS
Asked by: Dr. Angomcha Bimol Akoijam

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF RAILWAYS

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 2229 TO BE ANSWERED ON 12.03.2025

## CONNECTIVITY OF IMPHAL THROUGH RAIL

2229.   DR. ANGOMCHA BIMOL AKOIJAM:

Will the Minister of RAILWAYS be pleased to state:

- (a) the progress of railway line construction to connect Imphal;
- (b) the  year  in  which  the  project  to  connect  Imphal  by  Indian  Railways was initiated alongwith  the originally set target date for completion including  the  details  of  revisions  to  the  target  dates  indicating  the reasons for such changes;
- (c) the current timeline for the project's completion;
- (d) the total expenditure incurred on the project so far and the estimated cost for the remaining work;  and
- (e) the details of passenger and goods trains currently operating to and from Manipur along with their frequencies?

## ANSWER

MINISTER OF RAILWAYS, INFORMATION & BROADCASTING AND ELECTRONICS & INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

## (SHRI ASHWINI VAISHNAW)

- (a) to (e): Jiribam - Imphal (111 km) new line project has been taken up for connecting Imphal with Indian Railways (IR) network.  Latest anticipated cost of the project is ₹22,274 crore and expenditure of ₹14,423 has been incurred on the project upto 31.03.2024. An outlay of ₹1,200 crore has been provided for the financial year 2024-25.

55.36  Km.  from  Jiribam  to  Khongsang  has  already  been  commissioned. Work  has  been  taken  up  in  balance  stretch.  Poor  geological  strata  like highly  weathered  rock  and  loose  soil  hampering  progress  of  tunneling  in this region. Further soil, Law and order problem, frequent closure of NH-37 causing  difficulty  in  transportation  of  construction  resources  and  major land slide in Tupul area in June, 2022, have also affected the progress of work.

Completion of Railway project/s depends on various factors like quick land  acquisition  by  State  Government,  forest  clearance  by  officials  of forest department, shifting of infringing utilities, statutory clearances from various  authorities,  geological  and  topographical  conditions  of  area,  law and order situation in the area of project/s site, number of working months in a year for particular project site due to climatic conditions etc. and all these  factors  affect  the  completion  time  of  the  project/s.    With  above constraints, every effort is being made to execute the project/s expeditiously.

As  the  Railway  network  straddles  across  state  boundaries,  train  are operated, as per network requirement, across such boundaries. However, to cater to the needs of the passengers of stations located in the State of Manipur, Indian Railways operates two pairs of train services viz. 55665/55666 Silchar - Vangaichungpao Passenger (daily) and 12097/12098 Agartala - Khongsang Jan Shatabdi Express (tri-weekly). Keeping in view the  concerns  of  the  State  Government  of  Manipur,  these  services  have been temporarily suspended since 4 th  May, 2023.

Details of freight traffic handled at Jiribam and Khongsang terminals in the financial year 2024-25 (upto Februrary, 2025) is as under:-

| Stations   |   No. of Rakes handled |
|------------|------------------------|
| Jiribam    |                   15.5 |
| Khongsang  |                   16   |

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