Jiribam-Imphal New Line Project Update: Work on Indian Railways’ ambitious Jiribam – Imphal New Railway Line project in northeast India is under progress. According to the Railway Ministry, bridge number 53 in the Jiribam – Imphal New Rail Line Project has been constructed on the Barak river, which is known to be the largest river of the northeastern state Manipur. The newly constructed bridge is situated at a difficult location where the height of the tallest piers is as high as 75 metres (higher than the world-famous Qutub Minar in Delhi). Here, watch the video shared by the Railway Ministry on Jiribam-Imphal New Line Project:
Last year in September, former Railway Minister Piyush Goyal in a written reply to a question in Lok Sabha had said that the 110.625 km long Jiribam – Imphal New Rail Line was included in the 2003-04 Budget. According to the ministry, the latest anticipated cost of this new rail line project is Rs 12,264 crore. Up to March 2020, an expenditure of Rs 10,089 crore was incurred and for the financial year 2020-21, an outlay of Rs 800 crore was provided.
He had further said that the completion of any railway project depends on various factors like geological and topographical conditions of the area, quick land acquisition process by the state government, forest clearance by forest department officials, statutory clearances from various authorities, shifting of infringing utilities, law and order situation in the project site area, number of working months due to climatic conditions, etc. According to him, all these factors differ from project to project and affect the project’s completion time.
Indian Railways’ Jiribam-Imphal new line project in the hilly terrain of young Himalayas is a challenging project having as many as 47 tunnels, 156 bridges including 141-metre high pier bridge, etc. The progress of the work at the site has been adversely affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, he further added.
