Lumding-Silchar BG Rail line declared operational after corrective steps taken by Railways.

Warning of “catastrophic disaster”, the Commissioner of Railway Safety (CRS) concluded in the middle of 2015 that the Lumding-Silchar broad-gauge link in Assam, a key arterial track in the Northeast, posed a “danger to travelling public”. This was the first red flag. Documents show that at least three more other senior Railway officials cited the safety warning and raised objections over the line. The Railway Ministry opened the line to passenger trains in November that year. Just four months later, the line had to be shut for three months following two back-to-back derailments of passenger trains amid landslides and rainfall - there were no casualties.

The line was re-opened in August 2016, after some corrective measures were taken, and the track has been in operation since then.

When contacted, H K Jaggi, General Manager, Northeast Frontier Railway Construction Organisation (NFRCO), which built the line, said, “There were derailments due to slippage in the ghat section, which is common. The line has been functioning without any incident for over a year now. Now we have identified 14 locations for patrolling… instrumentation in many places has also been done.”

The link has 79 major and 340 minor bridges, and 21 tunnels. In his report, submitted in July 2015, S Nayak, the CRS, wrote: “Having inspected the Broad Gauge line…and having various technical discussions with Railway officials including detailed correspondences made with Railway Administration, I am of the opinion that the newly converted BG single line between New Haflong-Ditokcherra-Badarpur-Silchar can’t be opened for passenger traffic without danger to travelling public…”

The clearance by CRS, a statutory safety regulator under the Civil Aviation Ministry, is mandatory for opening any line for passenger operations.

On April 19, 2016, eight months after the CRS report, the Chief Bridge Engineer shut the line for two days for passenger trains, citing safety issues. On April 23, the Poorvottar Sampark Kranti Express from New Delhi to Silchar derailed between Ditokcherra and Banderkhal. On April 26, the train, on its return leg, derailed between Mahur and Phiding.

The 210-km section provides subsequent connectivity to Manipur on one side and Mizoram on the other. Lumding and Silchar were originally connected by a metre gauge line. The broad gauge project started around 1997, as part of a Rs 3,500-crore National Project. However, around 52 km of the new line was diverted through a geologically challenging stretch in the hills of the Indo-Burma range.

Stressing that any corrective measure would only bring “limited relief”, Nayak’s report stated: “The stability of the formation, tunnels, bridges, need to be holistically reviewed by a team of experts in geo-technology and structural engineering both in-house and from outside to formulate Action Plan for immediate short term and long term satisfactory performance… any failure in the critical section [New Haflong-Ditokcherra hill section] has potential for a catastrophic disaster, Railway Administration is urged to consider every possible risk and systematically address its mitigation.”

Following the CRS verdict, the NFRCO sent a letter to the Railway Board claiming that Nayak’s observations had been complied with. But this letter, sent within a week after the CRS report was received, did not include the consent of two key officials concerned - the Chief Bridge Engineer and the Chief Track Engineer.

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