The Guwahati–Lumding section is a broad-gauge railway line connecting and . The long railway line operates in the

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

state State may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Literature * ''State Magazine'', a monthly magazine published by the U.S. Department of State * ''The State'' (newspaper), a daily newspaper in Columbia, South Carolina, United States * ''Our S ...

Assam Assam (; ) is a state in northeastern India, south of the eastern Himalayas along the Brahmaputra and Barak River valleys. Assam covers an area of . The state is bordered by Bhutan and Arunachal Pradesh to the north; Nagaland and Manipur ...

. It is under the jurisdiction of

Northeast Frontier Railway zone The Northeast Frontier Railway (abbreviated NFR) is one of the 19 railway zones of the Indian Railways. It is headquartered in Maligaon, Guwahati in the state of Assam, and responsible for operation and expansion of rail network all across No ...

History

In the pre-partition days, Assam was linked to Chittagong through the Akhaura-Kulaura-Chhatak Line and Akhaura-Laksam-Chittagong Line. The Chittagong link had been constructed in response to the demand of the Assam tea planters for a railway link to

Chittagong port The Chittagong Port ( bn, চট্টগ্রাম বন্দর) is the main seaport of Bangladesh. Located in Bangladesh's port city of Chittagong and on the banks of the Karnaphuli River, the port handles over 90 percent of Bangladesh' ...

Assam Bengal Railway The Assam Bengal Railway (ABR) was one of the pioneering railway companies in British India. Headquartered in Chittagong, it functioned from 1892 to 1942. History Assam Bengal Railway was incorporated in 1892 to serve British-owned tea planta ...

started construction of a railway track on the eastern side of

Bengal Bengal ( ; bn, বাংলা/বঙ্গ, translit=Bānglā/Bôngô, ) is a geopolitical, cultural and historical region in South Asia, specifically in the eastern part of the Indian subcontinent at the apex of the Bay of Bengal, predom ...

in 1891. A track between Chittagong and

Comilla Comilla (; bn, কুমিল্লা, Kumillā, ), officially spelled Cumilla, is the fifth largest city of Bangladesh and second largest in Chittagong division. It is the administrative centre of the Comilla District. The name Comilla was ...

was opened to traffic in 1895. The Comilla-Akhaura-Kulaura-Badarpur section was opened in 1896–1898 and finally extended to

Lumding Lumding (Pron:/lʌmˈdɪŋ/) is a city with municipal board in Hojai district in the Indian state of Assam. Etymology The word 'Lumding' owes its roots to a couple of Dimasa words 'Lama' and 'Ding' connoting 'straight pathway'. The word ''Lu ...

in 1903. The Assam Bengal Railway constructed a branch line to Guwahati, connecting the city to the eastern line in 1900. During the 1900–1910 period, the Eastern Bengal Railway built the Golakganj-Amingaon branch line, thus connecting the western bank of the Brahmaputra to the western line.

Broad gauge

The railway tracks from Guwahati to Lumding and from Chaparmukh to Haibargaon were upgraded from metre gauge to broad gauge in 1994.

Line doubling

The Guwahati-Lumding-Dibrugarh line was proposed to be doubled in the

Railway Budget Railway budget of India was the Annual Financial Statement of the state-owned Indian Railways, which handles rail transport in India. It was presented every year by the Minister of Railways, representing the Ministry of Railways, in the Parliam ...

for 2011–12. The long Lumding-Hojai doubling project was sanctioned in 2012–13.The Lumding Hojai patch doubling was completed on 10 July 2019. The long New Guwahati-Digaru doubling project was completed in 2012–13.

Railway reorganisation

The Assam Railway and Trading Company Limited was merged with Assam Bengal Railway in 1945. With

partition Partition may refer to: Computing Hardware * Disk partitioning, the division of a hard disk drive * Memory partition, a subdivision of a computer's memory, usually for use by a single job Software * Partition (database), the division of a ...

, Assam Bengal Railway was split up and railway lines in Assam became Assam Railway. In 1952, North East Railway was formed with the amalgamation of Assam Railway, Oudh-Tiirhut Railway and the Kanpur-Achnera section of Bombay, Baroda and Central India Railway. Northeast Frontier Railway was created with a part of NE Railway in 1958.

Jagiroad train derailment

On 16 April 2014, around 2:15am

Guwahati Guwahati (, ; formerly rendered Gauhati, ) is the biggest city of the Indian state of Assam and also the largest metropolis in northeastern India. Dispur, the capital of Assam, is in the circuit city region located within Guwahati and is the ...

bound Dimapur -Kamakhya Express derailed on the Guwahati-Lumding section near

Jagiroad Jagiroad is a place located in Mayong Sub-Division, in Morigaon district of Assam state, India. It includes a paper mill (NPM) and World's biggest dry fish market. It was earlier known as Nakhola, but in British Rule of India, due to frequent ...

in central

Morigaon district Morigaon district () is an administrative district in the state of Assam in India. The district headquarters is located at Morigaon. The ancient place of occult Mayong is located in this district as well as Pobitora Wildlife Sanctuary. Histor ...

leading to 45 injuries. At the time of the accident the train was carrying around 700 passengers.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Guwahati - Lumding section 5 ft 6 in gauge railways in India Rail transport in Assam Railway lines opened in 1900 Transport in Guwahati Transport in Lumding