Bairabi–Sairang Line: Railways sourced construction material, workforce from across country, ET Infra
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Labour force mobilised nationwide
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ETInfra
To connect Mizoram's capital Aizawl to the national railway network, the Northeast Frontier Railway (NFR) drew on material and manpower from several parts of the country, reports. The 52-km Bairabi–Sairang railway line, constructed at a cost of approximately ₹8,000 crore, is now complete and is expected to be inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi soon.Vinod Kumar, the project's chief engineer, said most of the construction material was sourced from outside Mizoram.'Crushed stones were brought from Assam, West Bengal and Jharkhand. We purchased sand from Silchar and Guwahati. We sourced reinforcement rods from Kolkata and bent them near the highway as carrying them to the construction site was not possible due to their length. Then, we straightened them for use at the site,' Kumar said.'Small vehicles cannot carry 12-ft-long rods and big vehicles cannot ply on these roads,' he added.Steel girders used in the project came from Raipur (Chhattisgarh), Kolkata (West Bengal), and Wardha and Ahmednagar (Maharashtra). NFR officials said transporting these to the construction site involved logistical difficulties.'There are two approach roads to Guwahati from Aizawl and both often get closed due to landslides or poor conditions. So, we carried the girders up to Bairabi using the rail network and then took them to the site by making special transportation arrangements,' Kumar explained.'Cranes were dismantled to take them to the site to place these girders on the bridge. A day's work took more than a month to complete due to all these reasons,' he said.The project relied on both skilled and unskilled labourers from West Bengal, Assam, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Jharkhand.Once operational, the Bairabi–Sairang line will make Mizoram the fourth northeastern state with its capital linked to the railway grid. The line includes 48 tunnels (12.853 km in total), 55 major and 87 minor bridges, five road overbridges and nine road underbridges. One bridge, numbered 196, rises 104 metres—42 metres taller than Delhi's Qutub Minar.The railway line was completed in four phases: Bairabi–Hortoki (16.72 km) was commissioned in July 2024; the remaining sections—Hortoki–Kawnpui (9.71 km), Kawnpui–Mualkhang (12.11 km), and Mualkhang–Sairang (12.84 km)—were commissioned in June 2025.
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Bairabi–Sairang Line: Railways sourced construction material, workforce from across country, ET Infra
Materials came from multiple states Advt Labour force mobilised nationwide Advt By , ETInfra To connect Mizoram's capital Aizawl to the national railway network, the Northeast Frontier Railway (NFR) drew on material and manpower from several parts of the country, reports. The 52-km Bairabi–Sairang railway line, constructed at a cost of approximately ₹8,000 crore, is now complete and is expected to be inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi Kumar, the project's chief engineer, said most of the construction material was sourced from outside Mizoram.'Crushed stones were brought from Assam, West Bengal and Jharkhand. We purchased sand from Silchar and Guwahati. We sourced reinforcement rods from Kolkata and bent them near the highway as carrying them to the construction site was not possible due to their length. Then, we straightened them for use at the site,' Kumar said.'Small vehicles cannot carry 12-ft-long rods and big vehicles cannot ply on these roads,' he girders used in the project came from Raipur (Chhattisgarh), Kolkata (West Bengal), and Wardha and Ahmednagar (Maharashtra). NFR officials said transporting these to the construction site involved logistical difficulties.'There are two approach roads to Guwahati from Aizawl and both often get closed due to landslides or poor conditions. So, we carried the girders up to Bairabi using the rail network and then took them to the site by making special transportation arrangements,' Kumar explained.'Cranes were dismantled to take them to the site to place these girders on the bridge. A day's work took more than a month to complete due to all these reasons,' he project relied on both skilled and unskilled labourers from West Bengal, Assam, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and operational, the Bairabi–Sairang line will make Mizoram the fourth northeastern state with its capital linked to the railway grid. The line includes 48 tunnels (12.853 km in total), 55 major and 87 minor bridges, five road overbridges and nine road underbridges. One bridge, numbered 196, rises 104 metres—42 metres taller than Delhi's Qutub railway line was completed in four phases: Bairabi–Hortoki (16.72 km) was commissioned in July 2024; the remaining sections—Hortoki–Kawnpui (9.71 km), Kawnpui–Mualkhang (12.11 km), and Mualkhang–Sairang (12.84 km)—were commissioned in June 2025.
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