Northeast Frontier Railway (NFR) on Tuesday informed that works have started in portal 1 of Tunnel no.6 in the Phase III of Dhansiri-Kohima New line project to connect the state capital of Nagaland. In a post on X, NFR stated that the 4.5 km long tunnel is between the proposed stations of Pherima & Piphema and is being provided with an escape tunnel.
It may be mentioned that on June 15 last, NFR achieved a major milestone in the third phase of the project by achieving a breakthrough in tunnel no. 15 between Menguzuma and Zubza stations, measuring 160metre.
NFR had said that the breakthrough was considered a major step towards connecting Kohima with rest of the nation through the Indian Railways network.
The 82.50-km Dimapur-Kohima new railway line project that takes off from Dhansiri station in Assam to Zubza adjacent to Kohima is being implemented by NFR Construction Organisation at a cost of Rs 6,663 crore. Of the total length of the project, 2.75 km was in Assam and 79.75 Km in Nagaland.
With eight new stations, viz, Dhansiri, Dhansiripar, Shokhuvi, Molvom, Pherima, Piphema, Menguzuma and Zubza, the project has 24 major bridges, 156 minor bridges, six road overbridges, 15 road under-bridges and 21 tunnels of 31-km length.