Upgrade plan for rail station

The general manager of NF Railways, Maligaon, Keshav Chandra, today assured different organisations here that the loop line from Mariani junction to Jorhat railway station would be laid very soon to enable plying of long-distance trains to Jorhat.Inaugurating the new air-conditioned restroom, the second platform and the foot overbridge at the railway station today, Chandra said the infrastructure of the station would have to be put in place before long-distance trains could be allowed to come there.Jorhat railway station was declared a model railway station by then railway minister Mamata Banerjee during the last rail budget. “Our predecessors did not do much for the development of infrastructure in this more than 100-year-old station. Hence, we have to start from scratch. After everything is put in place, the loop line will be constructed,” Chandra told members of the Jorhat Rail Sewa Suraksha Samiti and the Jorhat Bikash Committee, two organisations that have been vociferously demanding the plying of long-distance trains from Jorhat and upgrade of facilities at the station for more than a decade now.“Jorhat is the second most important city after Guwahati and we are putting stress on developing the rail infrastructure here. The work on the Na-ali overbridge, which has been sanctioned, will start soon and the old rail tracks will also be strengthened,” he said.The two organisations again submitted memoranda to Chandra, demanding extension of Saraighat Express from Guwahati to Calcutta (Sealdah) upto Mariani, an AC coach for Guwahati-Mariani via Jorhat Intercity Express, double-tracking of the rail line till Jorhat from Mariani, among others.