Union minister Rajen Gohain Friday flagged off a weekly express train from Nagaon in Assam to Tambaram in Tamil Nadu, which will help people of four central Assam districts reach Chennai.
The minister of state for railways flagged off the train from Nagaon station, though it will run every week between Silghat Town in Nagaon district and Tambaram in southern Chennai.
The Guwahati-Tambaram Express has been extended to run from Silghat Town to provide a direct link from Silghat to Tambaram fulfilling a long standing demand of the people of Central Assam.
It will leave from Silghat Town every Friday at 8.30 am to reach Tambaram at 8.50 pm on Sunday. On return journey, the train will leave from Tambaram at 09.45 pm on Monday to reach Silghat Town at 09.45 am on Thursday.
Gohain said the people of Nagaon, Golaghat, Karbi Anglong and Sonitpur will not require to go to Guwahati for availing a train to visit Chennai.
The train will also help tourists visit the Kaziranga National Park, famed for its one-horned rhinos, as they can now get down at Jakhalabandha which is a short distance from Kaziranga, he said.
Stating that efforts are on to remove all bottlenecks in railway operations in the state, the minister said four manned level crossing gates in Hojai-Habaipur section will soon be replaced with road over bridges or limited height subways to improve punctuality and increase the safety aspect.
Double lining of the entire route from Bongaigaon to Lumding has been sanctioned and similar work for Lumding-Hojai section is almost complete, he added.
He assured the people that more trains will run from Nagaon to places like Mumbai and Delhi, and after completion of the development work of Silghat Town, more long distance trains will start from there.
Silghat station is being developed as a terminal station and recently a direct train to Kolkata was flagged off from there.
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