NEF Railway striving to restart toy train service from NJP

Debasish Bhowmik, EOI, Siliguri, 6 Jan: The Indian Railways is determined to stop extremist outfits from plotting destruction to railway tracks across the country, announced North-East Frontier Railway general manager Ranjit Singh Virdi today while making an assessment of the railway tracks between New Jalpaiguri and Aluabari. He also inaugurated a security zone at Siliguri Junction that is equipped with nine close circuit cameras.

Further, Virdi flagged-off a newly-built platform, ‘1B’, at the NJP railway station. Station sources said passengers will not need to cross the over bridge to access the new platform.

The general manager said the Indian Railways has decided to launch a joint railway track monitoring programme across the country with the assistance of concerned states’ police to protect railway tracks from extremist attacks.

Virdi said the NEF Railways has rebuilt the landslide devastated toy train track near Paglajhora. The department will also repair the remaining damaged portion of the track between Paglajhora and Mahanadi. He said the NEF has requested the state public works department to construct a road there at the earliest. The PWD has committed to complete construction work before the upcoming monsoon, according to the general manager.

When asked about the frequent elephant deaths caused by speeding trains, Virdi said his department has set a speed limitation for trains running through the elephant corridor. He expressed hope that doing so would reduce the frequency of accidents. Further, the NEF railway general manager said the railways will either install barbed wire fencing along either side of the tracks or build underpasses in the elephant corridor areas to prevent the big animals from venturing onto the rail tracks.