Manipur: Railway Minister lays foundation stone of Station Building at Tupul

Imphal (Manipur) [India], Nov. 12 (ANI): Union Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu on Saturday laid the foundation stones of Station Building at Tupul, commencement of work at Portal No. 2. and foundation of Safety Tunnel of Longest Tunnel No. 12 at a function organized by the Northern Frontier Railway at 1st Manipur Rifles Parade Ground. In line with Indian Railway's avowed goal of connecting all north eastern state capitals with broad band gauge railway line, the 111 Km long Jiribam - Tupul - Imphal new broad gauge railway project was taken up in 2008. The project was declared as a National Project because of its importance. The 12.5 Km Jiribam to Dolakhal section has been completed and commissioned for freight train in March 2016. On the 84 Km Jiribam Tupul Section, out of 37 tunnels, 29 have been completed as on October 31 and the rest are being targeted for completion at the earliest. Tupul serves as the terminal station for Phase-I of Jiribam-Imphal project. It will be 84 kms from Jiribam by rail against 170 km by road. The station is situated at a distance of 2.50 km from Tupul Market and 53 kms from Imphal City and will be connected to NH 37 which is about 1.50 km away. Tupul Railway Station has been proposed as full-fledged station with all basic passenger amenities including waiting areas, high level platform, etc. The station will be two storied structure and the elevation is proposed to be depicting local architecture. The approximate cost of the station will be Rs. 70 crores. Towards the safe evacuation of the passengers during the emergency like fire etc, and servicing purposes a parallel safety tunnel of 9.35 km is being constructed as per International UIC'S Technical specification of Inter-operability (TSI). (ANI)