5th July 2021: Rajdhani Express arrived at Manipur’s Vaingaichunpao railway station from Assam’s Silchar railway station for a trial run on Friday. With this, the state got a place on the map of Indian Railways. The train covered a distance of 11 km between the two northeastern stations, with railway officials on board. East Mojo reported that the train halted briefly at Manipur’s Jiribam railway station, where railway officials were welcomed by unfurling the national flag.

Indian Railways officials who reached Jiribham station from Silchar included Nripen Bhattacharya, Senior PRO of North East Frontier (NF) Railway, and CDO Silchar, Abdul Hakim, among others.

Addressing the media, Bhattacharya said that the broad-gauge train service was extended from Silchar to Vaingaichunpao railway station. Passenger train service from Vaingaichunpao to Silchar will start soon.

Manipur Chief Minister N Biren Singh on Saturday called the moment “Historic” on Twitter. “The first trial run of a passenger train from Silchar to Vaingaichunpao in Tamenglong was successfully conducted on Friday,” he wrote in the post. He said that the people of Manipur are very grateful to Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

East Mojo informed that the Vaingaichunpao railway line is under construction. Once completed, it will be the longest railway tunnel near Imphal.