Several northeastern states, including Tripura, Manipur, Mizoram, and southern Assam, have been cut off from the rest of the country by rail due to waterlogged and damaged railway tracks following landslides triggered by incessant rain in the aftermath of Cyclone Remal, officials reported on Wednesday.
A Northeast Frontier Railway (NFR) official stated that railway tracks were submerged and damaged at over ten locations in the New Haflong-Bandarkhal section under the Lumding division in southern Assam’s Dima Hasao district, which serves as a critical route to southern Assam, Tripura, Manipur, and Mizoram.
“Our engineers and workers are tirelessly working to restore rail services, but heavy rain and adverse weather conditions have significantly hampered the restoration efforts,” the NFR official told IANS. Full-scale repair work cannot commence until the rain subsides.
The NFR has canceled numerous express, passenger, and goods trains bound for southern Assam, Tripura, Manipur, and Mizoram since Tuesday.
Since April 25, passenger and goods train services have been disrupted due to heavy landslides that damaged tracks in the Jatinga Lumpur-New Harangajao section under the Lumding division, following heavy rains in the mountainous Dima Hasao district.
Due to the damaged railway tracks and unstable soil, the NFR has been operating a limited number of trains during the day on the hilly route and regulating long-distance and express trains. These disruptions have caused significant shortages of transport fuel—petrol and diesel—and other essential goods in southern Assam, Tripura, Mizoram, and Manipur.
