GUWAHATI/AGARTALA, Nov 20 (TIWN): Union minister for Railways Suresh Prabhakar Prabhu will flag off the 55616 Silchar-Guwahati fast passenger on Saturday at 10.30am from Rail Bhavan, New Delhi, via video-conferencing. Union minister of state for railways Manoj Sinha and the Union minister for sports and youth affairs Sarbananda Sonowal will be present at Silchar railway station for the flagging-off ceremony.An NF Railway official told to TIWN today that the regular passenger train service would begin from Monday. The 55616 Silchar-Guwahati fast passenger will leave Silchar everyday at 5am and reach Guwahati at 5.15pm. Similarly, the 55615 Guwahati-Silchar train would leave Guwahati at 11.55pm everyday and reach Silchar at 1.10pm the next day. With the service commissioned, a passenger from Silchar will be able to travel to Guwahati in 12 hours. Online Ticket booking had already started from yesterday.The train services on the broad gauge have become possible after conversion of the meter gauge to broad gauge between Lumding and Silchar. The Guwahati Lumding gauge conversion was done in 1994.

The cost of the 210km Lumding-Silchar gauge conversion has been estimated at Rs 3,500 crore. The board gauge line was inaugurated in March this year and goods train have been running since then.

The NF Railway had stopped train services on the Lumding-Silchar section for six months from October last year to complete the project. Passenger train services, which were also scheduled to resume in April, had to be put off for safety checks.

There have been protests in Silchar against the delay in resuming passenger services between Silchar and Lumding. Even today protesters demanded to know the reasons behind the delay and alleged conspiracy behind it.

This railway line further change the landscape of Barak Valley and it will later be extended to Tripura. The line , a life line for entire region , is crucial for the supply of foodgrain , fertilizers, petroleum products and other essentials from the rest of India.