Dimapur-Kohima railway line project making steady progress

The 82.50-km Dimapur-Kohima new railway line from Dhansiri station in Assam to Zubza adjacent to Kohima is making steady progress. According to Sabyasachi De, chief public relations officer of Northeast Frontier Railway (NFR) that is undertaking the project, the next phase from Shokhuvi to Pherima is likely to be completed very soon and the entire project up to Zubza is targeted to be completed by 2026.
Executed at an estimated cost of Rs 6,663 crore, the new railway line will have eight stations – Dhansiri, Dhansiripar, Shokhuvi, Molvom, Pherima, Piphema, Menguzuma and Zubza. It includes 24 major bridges, 156 minor bridges, six road overbridges, 15 road under bridges and 21 tunnels of 31 km length. The tunnel no. 7 between Pherima to Piphema is the longest tunnel of this project which is of 6520 metre length.
The project has been divided into three phases for ease of commissioning. The first phase of 16.5 km from Dhansiri to Shokhuvi had already been completed in October 2021 and passenger train services from Shokhuvi to Naharlagun in Arunachal Pradesh and Mendipathar in Meghalaya had been introduced recently to enhance intra-regional rail connectivity.
De claimed that the new rail connectivity would help in transportation of food grains and other infrastructural items to Nagaland at a much cheaper cost from other parts of the country, benefitting the local people. He said the State’s economy would receive a boost.