Most of the North-Eastern region has no rail links and given the terrain and geographical location, some of them may not ever have any. North East Frontier Railway (NFR) provides the only lifeline as far as rail connectivity of this region is concerned. Against all odds, the NFR has sustained the pressure of ever increasing passenger and freight load despite the fact that this section has always been a neglected one.

Figures up to November 2002 for the year 2002-2003 shows earnings of Rs. 595.48 crore as against Rs. 957.26 crore in the year 2001-2002. Similarly working expense at the same time is shown as Rs. 787.88 crore as against Rs. 1187.78 crore for the year 2001-2002. The plan head expenditure in 2001-02 was Rs. 524.37 crore as against Rs. 449.98 crore in 2000-01. Till November 2002, the investment for construction work stood at 5.421 crore as against Rs. 410 crore in the whole of 2001-02. The figure is expected to touch around 480 crores by the completion of this financial year. NFR General Manager Vipin Nanda announced that in 2003-04, the same figure might touch an expected high of Rs. 600 crores.

Giving out facts and figures, the General Manager highlighted that the security scenario has also considerably improved. The safety programme has also been encouraging. 95 accidents (both passenger and goods train) were recorded in 2000-01. It came down to 58 in 2001-02 and has come further down to 35 in 2002-03 (till January ’03). A number of efforts have been taken to reduce the possibility of accidents.

He further informed that 247.81 km of track renewal work has been done. Ultra-sonic flaw detector (USFD) testing of rails including joints is being continiously taken up as preventive measure. 4721 km of rail have been tested till December 2002. The driver and guard of all passenger trains have been provided with walkie talkie sets and accident relief trains have been provided with satellite phones. Trail of Anti-Collossion Device (ACD) is complete in NF Railway. The system will work through a global positioning system. Under the special railway safety fund, Rs. 85.8 crore has been allotted for NFR out of which 49.5 crore has been spent till Jan ’03 on track renewal, bridge work etc.

Passenger reservation system is functioning at 26 rail head locations and 10 non rail head locations (that includes all other seven State capitals of the North-East, other than Guwahati). At least in 13 other places, work for installation of PRS is completed or under process. There are proposals for 51 more PRS. National train enquiry system is already functioning at a number of locations under Katihar, Alipurduar, Lumding and Tinsukia divisions and there is proposal to expand this system to other locations. The interactive voice response system facility is also available at Katihar and other places.
    
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