Smart City: 12-km elevated railway corridor to come up in Guwahati

GUWAHATI: The Centre today announced an investment of over Rs 5,000 crore to construct a 12-km-long elevated railway corridor inside Guwahati, contributing to the smart city project.

"We are going to develop the Guwahati station with an elevated terminal. The entire corridor between Kamakhya and New Guwahati will be elevated. This will be a Rs 5,000-crore project," Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu said here.

The Indian Railways will form a joint venture in the form of a special purpose vehicle with the state government to implement the project.

"In the next 15 days, DPR will be prepared. The exact shareholding between the two partners will be known later. We will start the work in the next few months," he said.

There will be seven platforms in the 12 km stretch and the terminals will be developed for commercial purposes as well, he added.

"The three stations in Kamakhya, Guwahati and New Guwahati will be connected to metro line, which is coming up in the city. The entire project is meant to contribute to the smart city project," Prabhu said.

There will be four elevated tracks with 12 level crossings and it will take just 15 minutes to cross the stretch, he added.
Prabhu also laid foundation stones of three projects and flagged off a new passenger train through remote system.

The three projects are -- doubling of tracks in New Bongaigaon-Kamakhya section via Goalpara, Digaru-Hojai line and electrification of Jalpaiguri-Guwahati route.

These three projects will entail a cumulative investment of Rs 3,758.83 crore and will be completed by 2021.

Prabhu also flagged off Karimganj-Maishashan-Silchar passenger train, sanctioned at a cost of Rs 55 crore.

"Maishashan in Assam is the border town for train link to Bangladesh. This line is important link for Trans-Asian railway network through Bangladesh," he added.

On this occasion, Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal requested Prabhu to connect all the district headquarters of the state with rail network.

"I also request the Railway Minister to reserve the third and fourth grade jobs for local youths," Sonowal said.