[Reader-list] History of Northeast Frontier Railways

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HISTORY

Railway first entered Assam in 1881 when the Assam Railway and Trading
Company began construction of a 65-Km long metre gauge line from Dibrugargh
to Makum Collieries in Margherita for the sole purpose of transporting tea
and coal. The year 1881 was a landmark year for railways in this region for
yet another event and that was the famous Darjeeling Himalayan Railway with
the legendary Toy Train was commissioned.

With the partition of India, the Bengal and Assam Railway had to be re-
divided according to the political boundary. As a result of which the Assam
Railway was formed and from August 1947, with headquarters at Pandu. To
establish an all India rail route, the construction of the Assam Rail Link
between Kishanganj and Fakiragram, 142 miles long project was started on a
war footing on 26th January, 1948 and completed and opened in December 1949
within a record time. The first passenger train run on January26, 1950.

On April14, 1952 with the regrouping of the Indian Railways, the entire
Assam Railway system was amalgamated to from the North Eastern Railway with
its HQ at Gorakhpur in UP. Carved out of the unbifurcated NER, the
Northeast Frontier was formed in 15th January,1958 with the aim to give
greater impetus to the development of the Northeast with its HQ at Maligaon.

The N.F.Railway in under the administrative charge of the General Manager,
who reports to Railway Board assisted by heads of departments .It is
divided into four divisions-Alipurduar division, Katihar division, Lumding
division and Tinsukia division.

The N.F.Railway is the smallest railway in the country but the dedicated
service of the railwaymen and the sincere desire to meet the special
requirement of this region helped progressively to improve the performance
of this railway. The N.F.Railway serves as many as ten states, besides
providing interchange facility with Bangladesh and serves as railhead for
Nepal and Bhutan.

During the last four-decade, we have been continuously striving towards
overall upliftment of this region by taking up numerous projects and
executing them successfully.

Construction of Saraighat Bridge, the first rail-cum-road bridge over river
Brahmaputra was started on January1958. It was opened to goods traffic in
Oct.1962. The then prime minister of India Late Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru
opened passenger traffic on 7th June. The estimated cost of the bridge was
Rs.10,65,16,891.00

With the completion of the Saraighat Bridge, a modern era of Rail Transport
has dawned in Assam and Northeast India, opening a new horizon of progress
and development.

(Source: www.nfr.railnet.gov.in)