Nagaland: NFR’s symbolic works on redevelopment of Dimapur Rly Stn

The much hyped ‘redevelopment of Dimapur railway station” with a financial tag of Rs.283 crore allotted in August 2023, does not look like it’s taking off with the right momentum.
The project to transform Dimapur railway station into a World Class Railway Station has once again come under scrutiny, for snail-pace progress by legal procedures for wresting back some 30 Hectares of Railway land urgently needed for the redevelopment project. It may be reminded that NFR officials had informed office bearers of Naga Council Dimapur(NCD) in May 2025, that if and was not handed over, the project will be stalled. This will mean that the fund may diverted and utilised for NFR projects elsewhere.
While NFR has squarely blamed the state government for issuing ‘pattas’ on unauthorised occupation of railway land, it is a fact that these have happened either when the railways turned a blind eye or its employees were complicit in issuing NoCs for decades.
Over and above, NFR has remained blind to three mandirs that have been there for several decades within the frontage of the station’s ticket counter area. When asked, officials simply blamed the state government for allotting pattas for the structures.
Railway officials have also admitted that a major expansion plan proposed as early as 2013 had to be abandoned solely due to unresolved encroachment issues, which was also not made public. The officials however ignored the problem by remaining silent and not pressing the state government to act even during the 90s when the issue was highlighted by this newspaper.
As per NFR projections, the world-class station plan, along with the sanctioned double-track, requires critical infrastructure upgrades including canopies across all platforms for passenger and goods safety, escalators, foot over-bridges (FOBs), and other modern amenities.
Even Platform No.2 is without canopy for decades while NFR official cite lack additional 4 metres of a total width of nine meters needed.
Officials informed that the doubling of railway tracks has been sanctioned and tender finalised in 2024 under the Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) mode, with the contract awarded to an A–R Joint Venture.
It was informed that a comprehensive master plan was also prepared by the contractor.
However, officials conceded that execution has been “severely hampered” due to continued encroachment, with development works being carried out only in areas where railway land is free and undisputed.
At present, only the Railway Booking (RBG) building is progressing without obstruction, while construction of residential and service blocks has faced repeated disruptions due to encroachment-related disputes.
According to the officials, among the proposed constructions lined up by NFR are the RBG Building, office building, multiple residential towers (Res_Type 02 G+7 Tower-A and B, Res_Type 02 G+8, Res_Type 03 & 04 G+5), Arrival Block, Departure Building, South FOB, MCO Building, Electrical Service Block, Overhead Tank (OHT) with pay-and-use toilets, Arrival FOBs at both Furkating and Lumding ends, and a Roof Plaza.
On the legal front, officials disclosed that 13 encroachment-related cases are currently pending, most of them clubbed cases, with some disputes remaining before the courts for over a decade.
The plight of travellers and the standstill of development at Dimapur railway has been highlighted since 1995 by Nagaland Post. Taking up the matter, then Lok Sabha MP Imchalemba put pressure on the railways ministry which led to the introduction of Jan Shatabdi at Dimapur in 1996 by then Railway Minister Ram Vilas Paswan.
Subsequently NFR added BG Express between Guwahati to Dimapur in 1998 and followed by the Nagaland Express train on November 15, 2011 running between Guwahati and Dimapur.
These trains were introduced at Dimapur on the basis of huge demands by growing passenger volume. However Jan Shatabdi was extended to Furkating and now originates at Jorhat. Similarly, BG Express was shifted and now originates at Tinsukia and Nagaland Express now originsate at Ledo during 2020.
It may be noted that the issue of encroachment at DMV entered the public domain after Nagaland Post highlighted the extension of Nagaland Express and BG Express from Dimapur to Assam.
When Nagaland Postquestioned on the diversion of the two trains, NFR officials stated that DMV could not function as a termination station due to the non-availability of essential infrastructure.
However, when asked to explain why NFR has been reversing facilities for passengers in subtle ways which compelled Dimapur passengers to buy online tickets from Furkating, Bokajan, Jorhat or Dhansiri for onward journey to Guwahati and beyond ; NFR officials attributed the stagnation in development and expansion to alleged encroachment on railway land.
In fact Jan Shatabdi, BG Express and Nagaland Express were plying from Dimapur for years even despite encroachment.
NFR was also made to act only after a series of stinging reports in Nagaland Post about wilful neglect of Dimapur so as to reduce passenger flow so as to justify creating a substitute station at either Bokajan or Diphu citing land encroachment.
This Reporter re-visited Dimapur railway station to ascertain pace of work and it was found that most of the works were insignificant and minor merely symbolic with no effort to initiate double-track citing land encroachment.
Despite NFR officials keen to show they are committed, yet the shifting of trains causing reduction in seat quota does not hide the suspicion that NFR has more interest to let Dimapur railway station downgraded in order to upgrade other stations in Assam. The construction of Dhansiri-Zubza-Kohima railway should not distract from the urgency to redevelop Dimapur since there is no law that a state can have more than one railhead.