After 26-year wait, Mizoram’s capital Aizawl to be connected with Indian Rail network

The inauguration of the 51.38 km Bairabi–Sairang railway line in June has brought Aizawl, the capital of Mizoram, onto India’s national rail map. The project, initially conceived in September 1999, has overcome extraordinary hurdles including rugged terrain, landslides and limited working seasons.

The journey from concept to reality began when officials abandoned a full-scale survey due to dense forest cover and poor visibility. “Under a preliminary engineering cum-traffic (PET) survey a detailed examination of the route is done. As a PET survey was found not feasible, the Board was requested to change it to reconnaissance engineering-cum-traffic survey, which the Railway Board agreed on 15 July 2003,” a railway official explained.

The Northeast Frontier Railways conducted this reconnaissance in 2006, followed by a comprehensive geotechnical investigation carried out by RITES in 2008, with its final report submitted in August 2011.

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Declared a National Project by the Government of India in 2008–09, the line received its foundation stone on November 29, 2014. Land acquisition was completed by 2015, and full-scale construction commenced in 2015–16.

Vinod Kumar, the project’s chief engineer, highlighted the severe limitations: “The working season in the area is of very short duration and limited to four‑five months… no work is possible from April to October due to the prolonged duration of monsoon with heavy rainfall.” He added that the route winds through hilly terrain, deep valleys and gorges, necessitating numerous tunnels and high viaducts, while poor road access and frequent highway disruptions continue to hamper progress.

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“The project access roads are narrow and with steep gradients, on which big trucks/trailers cannot be used. Therefore, materials brought from outside on big trucks/trailers were transhipped into small carriers and then taken from the highway to the project site,” the official said. The transportation of large cranes required on-site dismantling and reassembling.

Local labour shortages, lack of mobile connectivity and reliance on construction material sourced from Assam, West Bengal and Meghalaya further complicated the work. The engineering feat achieved are remarkable: the line includes 48 tunnels spanning nearly 13 km, 55 major and 87 minor bridges, five road overbridges and nine underbridges.