SILCHAR/AGARTALA 30 (TIWN): Passenger train service along the newly laid Silchar-Lumding broad-gauge route is likely to begin next month.Sources in the Northeast Frontier Railway told that the passenger railway service was likely to be flagged off in August by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The line is expected to open for passenger trains from August 15, the source added.The office of the general manager of NFR, Ranjit Singh Virdi, today said he would conduct an inspection of the line from Badarpur to Haflong on Tuesday.The commissioner of railway safety, Sudarshan Kumar Nayak, in his report had mentioned that the Haflong-Silchar railway link was risky for passenger trains. .The report suggested the NFR to engage structural engineering and technology experts to review the status of the route.The senior public relations officer, NF Railway (construction), D.C. Bora, said the railway would take all sorts of preventive measures before starting passenger services on the route. “The NF railway is capable of overcoming the loopholes that were mentioned in the report. We are hopeful that the train service from Silchar to Lumding will begin by August,” he added.Following the inspection by Virdi, engineers from the railway board will examine the tracks.

“The fate of the passenger train service will be decided based on the reports of the engineers of railway board.

However, we are hoping that the passenger train service will start from next month,” said a senior railway officer.The first broad gauge engine along the 210km route chugged into Silchar on March 13, and three days later, a special LG train with railway officials reached here.Freight trains run on the route regularly.