NEW DELHI: The North East will get its fourth Rajdhani train on Saturday with PM Narendra Modi flagging off the inaugural train between Aizawl and Delhi. At present, Rajdhani trains are operational from Delhi to Naharlagun (Arunachal Pradesh), Agartala (Tripura) and Dibrugarh (Assam).Railway ministry officials said the PM will inaugurate the Bairabi-Sairang railway line, vital to linking Aizawl to the rail network, and flag off two more train services — Aizawl-Kolkata and Aizawl-Guwahati — on Saturday. They added that Mizoram becomes the fourth Northeastern state whose capital will now be directly connected to the Indian Railways network.“The Bairabi–Sairang new line project spans 51.4 km, and it has been built with an investment of around Rs 8,071 crore. This corridor has 48 tunnels (total length of 12.8 km), 55 major bridges, 87 minor bridges, five road over bridges and another six under bridges. The tunnels are adorned with murals reflecting Mizo heritage, which will turn the trip into a cultural experience,” said an official. Construction of the line began in 2015.Once operational, the new line will reduce the travel time between Aizawl and Guwahati from 16 hours by road to 12 hours by train and between Aizawl and Silchar from nearly seven hours by road to just three hours. “The benefits of this rail link will be multidimensional. Besides making travel easier, it will lead to socio-economic development, boosting tourism and other trade sectors not only in Mizoram but across the other Northeastern states as well,” said an official.
