Train services connecting south Assam, Tripura, Manipur, and Mizoram to the rest of the country via Guwahati partially resumed on Sunday after a week of disruption caused by massive landslides in Assam’s Dima Hasao district.
Officials from the Northeast Frontier Railway (NFR) confirmed that the Lumding-Badarpur Hill Section of the Lumding division had remained non-operational since June 23 due to heavy landslides damaging railway tracks in the mountainous region.
Kapinjal Kishore Sharma, Chief Public Relations Officer of NFR, announced that the first goods train and the Kanchenjunga Express (the first passenger train) successfully crossed the affected Jatinga Lampur section following restoration efforts.
Partial restoration of the Lumding–New Haflong stretch began Sunday, with full services expected to resume by Monday. Goods trains transporting essential commodities like petroleum products and food grains to Tripura and southern Assam’s Barak Valley were prioritized for movement.
A POL wagon, which had been stranded in Guwahati and meant for unloading at Dharmanagar in northern Tripura, is also being dispatched, officials confirmed.
Sharma said multiple earth slips, triggered by incessant rainfall, caused significant damage to sections of the hill railway route. In response, NFR General Manager Chetan Kumar Shrivastava visited the site to assess the situation, review ongoing restoration, and motivate field personnel. He directed the deployment of additional manpower and equipment to speed up repair work and fully restore this crucial hill route.
Due to the damage, NFR was forced to cancel, divert, or shorten the routes of several trains scheduled to operate in the affected areas.
Landslides, waterlogging, and railway track damage during the monsoon often disconnect several northeastern states—especially Tripura, Mizoram, Manipur, and south Assam—from the rest of the country, causing severe hardship for residents every year.
