The Indian Railways has incurred losses value over Rs 200 crore within the final 5 years because of the relentless influence of pure disasters equivalent to floods and landslides on the tasks within the Northeast.
In a written response in Lok Sabha on Wednesday, Minister for Railways Ashwini Vaishnaw stated that the geological weak spot of the Northeast is all the time accounted for on the stage of design and implementation of Railway tasks. These tasks are being carried out by the Northeast Frontier Railway (NFR) zone of the Indian Railways.
“On account of floods, landslides and so on. within the final 5 years, some harm to railway tracks and constructions befell in Northeast Frontier Railway which was assessed to be over Rs 200 crore. Geology of the North Jap Area is such that it’s liable to landslides,” stated Vaishnaw.
He added that for all main Railway tasks within the hilly terrain (these in Manipur, Mizoram, Arunachal Pradesh and Nagaland), detailed geo-technical investigations and environmental influence assessments are carried out earlier than going forward with development.
“These research particularly assess slope stability, rock and soil traits, vegetation cowl and hydrological patterns. Findings of those research are used to anticipate the danger of landslides that may consequence from development actions,” stated the minister.
In line with Railway Ministry knowledge, as of April 1, 2025, 12 railway tasks (eight new strains and 4 doubling), totaling 777 km in size and costing Rs 69,342 crore, have been sanctioned for the area. Out of this, 278 km of size has already been commissioned at an expenditure of Rs 41,676 crore incurred as much as March 2025.
Whereas the Bairabi-Sairang line, which connects Mizoram’s capital Aizawl for the primary time, is about to be operational, among the key ongoing tasks within the Northeast are the Dimapur-Kohima New Line (Dhansiri-Zubza) to attach Nagaland’s capital Kohima, the Murkongselek-Pasighat new line, the Sivok-Rangpo new line to attach Sikkim to the nationwide community for the primary time and the Jiribam-Imphal new line.
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