Railways looks at connecting Aizawl with Kolkata soon
The Statesman | 29 August 2025
Citizens of Aizawl are likely to have direct rail connectivity with Kolkata soon. The Bairabi-Sairang railway route, bringing Aizawl to the map of the Indian Railways, could have train services connecting Kolkata in the near future.
The 51.3km stretch is ready for passenger services. Prime Minister Narendra Modi is anticipated to inaugurate the line on 13 September. As the section is being readied for the inaugural of the “most crucial rail connectivity” for the people of Aizawl, the project has approval of the commissioner of railway safety to run revenue and freight trains. Awaiting a green signal from the railway board, the authorities are considering running passenger trains till in the Sairang-Bairabi stretch after inauguration. “The section has permission to operate trains up to 100 kmph. However initially, the passenger trains in this section would run at a maximum speed of 90 kmph only,” informed an official of the North Frontier Railway, under which the 51.3 km stretch falls.
“After full-fledged train operations commence, train services from Sairang would be extended till Silchar, which is the nearest hub for medical and educational needs for the people of Aizawl,” said the public relations officer of the NFR, Nilanjan Deb. “In the next move, there are plans to operate trains between Aizawl and Kolkata as well as Aizawl and Delhi,” he added.
Notably, the single-line section is yet to be electrified and the NFR is targeting to complete the electrification task by January 2026. The 51.3 km section is one of the most interesting as well as challenging projects of the Indian Railways. Within a span of 51.3 km, the section has around 143 bridges, including 55 major bridges and 87 minor ones. Interestingly, the Sairang -Bairabi project features the second highest railway bridge on piers in the country, according to the railway officials. The bridge named as Bridge number 196 is 114 metres high and is 42 metres taller than Qutub Minar. Apart from bridges, the section also includes 48 tunnels, totalling a length of 12,853 metres.
Faced with challenges of nature, the project has been completed in around 11 years. From hilly terrain to heavy monsoons, railway engineers faced home hurdles at executing the project that has been done at a cost of around Rs 5,021 crore. “Due to climatic challenges, there are only about four months of working period,” pointed out the PRO of NFR. “Apart from this, transporting the required materials, including girders to various sites was a task as the road connectivity was not that good. We had to build around 200 km of roads to enable transportation of the materials brought from various states like West Bengal to the sites,” he added.
Another hurdle in the path of the project was the unwillingness of the labourers of other states to work at the project. “As there were no proper mobile phone signals and other facilities, the labourers from other states were reluctant to work in this part of the state,” he added.
With the inaugural of the section, Aizawl would become the fourth capital of the North-East to have rail connectivity. In the near future, the Indian Railways plans to connect other capitals including Kohima, Imphal and Meghalaya.