Northeast Frontier Railway zone

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Northeast Frontier Railway
The logo of Northeast Frontier Railway (cropped).jpg
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3-Northeast Frontier Railway
Northeast Frontier Railway Headquarter, Maligaon.jpg
N.F. Railway Headquarter, Maligaon
Overview
Headquarters Maligaon, Guwahati
Locale Assam, West Bengal, Nagaland, Tripura, Sikkim, Manipur, Mizoram, Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, Bihar
Dates of operationJanuary 15, 1958;66 years ago (1958-01-15)
PredecessorNorth Eastern Railway
Technical
Track gauge Broad gauge
Narrow gauge
Previous gaugeMetre gauge
Other
Website North East Frontier Railway website

The Northeast Frontier Railway (abbreviated NFR) is one of the 19 railway zones of the Indian Railways. It is headquartered in Maligaon, Guwahati in the state of Assam, and responsible for operation and expansion of rail network all across Northeastern states and some districts of eastern Bihar and northern West Bengal.

Contents

Divisions

Northeast Frontier Railway is divided into 5 divisions:

Each of these divisions is headed by a Divisional Railway Manager, a Senior Administrative Grade officer of the rank of Joint Secretary to Government of India. The departmental setup at headquarters level and divisional setup in the field assists the General Manager in running the railways. Various departments namely engineering, mechanical, electrical, signal & telecom, operations, commercial, safety, accounts, security, personal and medical are headed by a Senior Administrative Grade / Higher Administrative Grade officer, provide technical and operational support to the divisions in train operations.

History

Dibrugarh Railway Yard 1943 Dibrugarh Railway Yard, 1943.jpg
Dibrugarh Railway Yard 1943

In 1881, the Assam Railway and Trading Company opened a metre gauge line 65 kilometres (40 mi) long from Dibrugarh to Makum. This company later started the first passenger train in Assam by the name of Dibru–Sadiya Railway. The North Eastern Railway was formed on 14 April 1952 by amalgamating two railway systems: the Assam Railway and Oudh and Tirhut Railway. Later, it was bifurcated into two railway zones on 15 January 1958, the North Eastern Railway and the Northeast Frontier Railway. [1] to better serve the needs of the northeastern states.

Operational area

Map of Northeast Frontier Railway zone railway lines Northeast India railway.png
Map of Northeast Frontier Railway zone railway lines
Guwahati railway station Ghy Railway.jpg
Guwahati railway station
Dibrugarh railway station New Dibrugarh Railway Station Complex.jpg
Dibrugarh railway station
Siliguri Junction railway station Siliguri Junction Railway Station 2.jpg
Siliguri Junction railway station
Agartala railway station Agartala Railway Station.jpg
Agartala railway station
Kamakhya Junction railway station Kamakhya Junction Railway Station.jpg
Kamakhya Junction railway station

The area of Northeast Frontier Railway operations is characterized by exceptional beauty and at the same time by some of the most arduous terrain. This difficult terrain limits the rail network expansion, and the only state with a decent rail network is Assam. The network is not broad gauge in many parts and the rail lines are antiquated with speeds at some sections being limited to a maximum of 30 km/h (19 mph). Before the Saraighat Bridge was constructed, passengers had to get down on the Amingaon side of the Brahmaputra and take a ferry across to Pandu Junction from where they could resume their journey. The majority of the tracks have been converted to BG and electrification is in process starting from Katihar till Guwahati.

Major sections

A few of the major sections under the Northeast Frontier Railway zone are:

Darjeeling Himalayan Railway

Darjeeling to Ghoom heritage narrow-gauge train Train-toy-final-2-720.jpg
Darjeeling to Ghoom heritage narrow-gauge train

The Darjeeling Himalayan Railway is maintained and governed under the responsibility of Katihar division. It ascends 6,850 feet (2,090 m) from New Jalpaiguri; the climb begins at Sukna, continues uninterruptedly to Ghum (7,407 ft or 2,258 m) and descends the final 5 miles (8.0 km) to Darjeeling. After independence, India's partition resulted in the isolation of the Northeast region. Consequently, the DHR was merged into Assam Railways, it was closed for the construction of the Assam–Bengal link line and one of its extension lines to Kishanganj was converted to metre gauge. DHR's other extension line to Kalimpong was washed away due to floods. On reopening, the DHR was merged with North Eastern Railway in 1952 and later into Northeast Frontier Railway in 1958.

The DHR achieved worldwide fame for many reasons such as:

An interest in DHR all along has ensured that it continues to operate notwithstanding very heavy losses. The steam locomotive is an icon of this Railway. Tindharia workshop has kept 13 locomotives surviving, some of which are over 100 years old and the youngest is about 70 years old.

Timeline of DHR:

Major Trains

NumberTrain NameStarting StationTerminating Station
20503/20504 20505/20506 Dibrugarh Rajdhani Express DibrugarhNew Delhi
22503/22504 Dibrugarh–Kanyakumari Vivek Express DibrugarhKanyakumari
15909/15910 Avadh Assam Express DibrugarhLalgarh
15657/15658 Brahmaputra Mail KamakhyaOld Delhi
20501/20502 Agartala Tejas Rajdhani Express AgartalaAnand Vihar Terminal
12504/12503 Agartala–SMVT Bengaluru Humsafar Express AgartalaSMVT Bengaluru Terminal
15959/15960 15961/15962 Kamrup Express DibrugarhHowrah
12513/12514 Silchar–Secunderabad Express SilcharSecunderabad
12519/12520 Lokmanya Tilak Terminus–Agartala AC Express AgartalaLokmanya Tilak Terminus
12507/12508 Aronai Express ThiruvananthapuramSilchar
12509/12510 Guwahati-SMVT Bengaluru Superfast Express GuwahatiSMVT Bengaluru
15903/15904 Dibrugarh-Chandigarh Express DibrugarhChandigarh
15933/15934 New Tinsukia–Amritsar Express New TinsukiaAmritsar
15645/15646 Lokmanya Tilak Terminus–Dibrugarh Express DibrugarhLokmanya Tilak Terminus
15635/15636 Dwarka Express GuwahatiOkha
15653/15654 Amarnath Express GuwahatiJammu Tawi
15655/15656 Kamakhya–Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Katra Express GuwahatiShri Mata Vaishno Devi Katra
22511/22512 Kamakhya–Lokmanya Tilak Terminus Karmabhoomi Express KamakhyaLokmanya Tilak Terminus
12505/12506 North East Express KamakhyaAnand Vihar Terminal
15667/15668 Kamakhya–Gandhidham Superfast Express KamakhyaGandhidham
15655/15656 New Tinsukia–SMVT Bengaluru Superfast Express New TinsukiaSMVT Bengaluru
15929/15930 New Tinsukia–Tambaram Express New TinsukiaTambaram

Loco sheds

Sicklines & Pitlines

Major stations

These are the major railway station which have large numbers of passenger frequencies and stoppages of trains in the zone.

List of major railway stations in Northeast Frontier Railway Zone of Indian Railways
Sl. No.Name of stationStation codeDivision
1 Guwahati GHYLumding
2 Dibrugarh DBRGTinsukia
3 Rangiya Junction RNYRangiya
4 Kamakhya Junction KYQLumding
5 Lumding Junction LMGLumding
6 Mariani Junction MXNTinsukia
7 Badarpur Junction BPBLumding
8 Silchar SCLLumding
9 Dimapur DMVLumding
10 New Tinsukia Junction NTSKTinsukia
11 Rangapara North Junction RPANRangiya
12 New Bongaigaon Junction NBQRangiya
13 New Alipurduar NOQAlipurduar
14 New Cooch Behar Junction NCBAlipurduar
15 Alipurduar Junction APDJAipurduar
16 New Jalpaiguri Junction NJPKatihar
17 Katihar Junction KIRKatihar
18 Agartala AGTLLumding
19 Siliguri Junction SGUJKatihar
20 Jalpaiguri Road railway station JPEAlipurduar
21 Dhupguri railway station DQGAlipurduar

See also

Further reading

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References

  1. Rao, M.A. (1988). Indian Railways, New Delhi: National Book Trust, pp.42-4