Imphal, July 27: Union Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu will be laying foundation stone for Imphal Railway station at Malom Bamdier in Imphal West district on July 30. On the same day he will also lay foundation stone for Tunnel/12 which is going to be the longest tunnel in the country at Tamenglong district on the same day.
The longest tunnel in Jiribam-Tupul section is 4.9 km in length, while the longest tunnel that the Union Railway Minister is laying foundation day at Kotlien area in Tamenglong district in the Tupul-Imphal section will be 10.75 km, a railway official source said.
According to official source, the Union Minister will arrived at Imphal Tulihal Airport on a special aircraft at 9.30 am, From 9.30 am to 10 the Minister along with Manipur government representatives at the Airport Lounge. Later at 10.30 am he will lay foundation stone for Imphal station.
During the visit the Union Railway Minister will meet Manipur MPs, Ministers and MLAs at Imphal and is expected to have lunch at Hotel Imphal.
At 4.30 pm the Minister will visit tunnel construction site at Tamenglong district where he will lay foundation stone for the longest Tunnel.
The Union Minister will then halt for a night and will leave for Agratala in the next morning.
In June, 2014, Railway officials had stated that the the Tupul-Imphal section covering 27 km is expected to be completed by March 2018 with final location survey completed. The Railway Board has sanctioned Rs1,397 crores for this section. There will be 12 tunnels with a total length of 15.1 km, three major and 27 minor bridges along with two station buildings.
The state has the only rail head at Jiribam which is an extension of the 1.5 km Lumding-Silchar meter gauge section in Assam.
The first phase of the project covers 84 km of the Jiribam-Tupul section and work is in progress on 1,263 hectare of the 1,310 hectare area.
Railways said the Jiribam-Tupul section will have 112 minor bridges, six major bridges, three road over bridges (ROB) and two road under bridges (RUB). It informed that already work on 52 minor bridges, ROBs and RUBs has been completed.
In the first phase, there was a total of 34 tunnels covering a total length of 39,401 meters. Railways authorities said tunneling work for 1,852 meters out of the 39,401 meters has been completed so far. A total of six new stations is expected along the newly bridge railway track.
