Trans-highway railway via Manipur approved

Imphal, May 19 (UNI) The Ministry of Railways has approved the signing and ratification of the Inter-governmental Agreement on Trans-Asian Railway passing through Manipur, Information Centre officials informed today.

Union Minister of State for Railways R Velu had informed the Lower House in this regard on May 17, officials said.

The Inter-governmental Agreement on Trans-Asian Railway was negotiated under the aegis of the United National-Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific(UN-ESCAP) and was opened for signature during the Ministerial Conference on Transport at Busan in November 2006.

The Agreement defined and listed the railway lines of international importance, including the missing links and laid down the guiding principles relating to technical characteristics for providing seamless transport on the Trans-Asian Railway network.

The Agreement did not, however, give an estimate of the total investment required on the network, it added.

The missing link in India was from Jiribam of Manipur to Tamu in Myanmar. The construction of this missing link, as per the feasibility study conducted by Ministry of External Affairs through RITES Limited, was estimated at Rs 2,941 crore.

On this portion, Ministry of Railways had sanctioned construction of the 97 kms new rail link between Jiribam and Tupul(short for Imphal), costing Rs 727.56 crores.

The Ministry of Railways sanctioned for opening of 126 Computerized Railway Reservation Centres in the country including nine in Manipur. Accordingly, Manipur would have Computerized Reservation Centres in all the nine districts, it was further stated.

UNI