AGARTALA, February 22 (TIWN): The much-awaited Lumding-Silchar broad gauge project will not be completed by March 2015 as the Northeast Frontier Railways (NFR) authorities are facing hurdles to complete the broad gauge project in time. According to sources, NFR chief administrative officer Ajit Pandit said they are facing a lot of troubles to complete the broad gauge project in time. The most difficult work is the construction of two tunnels. 425 metre work for tunnel No. 10 in Dima Hasao district in central Assam is incomplete and the drilling work for tunnel No. 12 started recently. Ajit Pandit said that the mega block from Badarpur to Agartala, a distance of 224km, will be taken up from October 1, 2015 and the same in the 10-km Karimganj-Mahishashan section will be taken from October 1, 2017, the source mentioned.

The NFR chief administrative officer said that under the broad gauge project Silchar station will get three large platforms. While there will be three running lines and there will be two stabling lines.

Earlier, Tripura Transport Secretary Samarjit Bhowmik said that the laying and constructing of Broad Gauge (BG) railway tracks of Mega Block for Dharmanagar to Agartala will start from October 2015 and is expected to complete within March 2016.

He further said that the commissioning of laying and constructing of Broad Gauge (BG) railway tracks of Mega Block for Agartala to Udaipur will start from March 2016. The commissioning of laying and constructing of Broad Gauge (BG) railway tracks of Mega Block for Kumarghat to Agartala will start from March 2016 and the commissioning of laying and constructing ofBroad Gauge (BG) railway tracks of Mega Block for Agartala to Sabroom will start from March 2018, Samarjit Bhowmik added.