Force boost for rail route

Two more RPF battalions on Lumding-Badarpur line

Agartala, Jan 18 : The NF Railway authority has decided to deploy two more battalions of the Railway Protection Force (RPF) on the vulnerable Lumding-Badarpur railway route. The move follows repeated pleas by the state government and its three CPM members of Parliament. The railway authorities have also decided to introduce sophisticated electronic signal systems at 421 stations in this zone, which also includes the Barak Valley district of Assam and Tripura. During the past year, the Lumding-Badarpur route became extremely vulnerable because of several attacks by the Black Widow militants on goods trains in this sector.  During the past two-and-a- half months, the Black Widow rebels had fired on engines of goods trains on the route on three occasions, bringing night train services to a halt. The attacks had also resulted in a severe shortage of petroleum products and other essential commodities in Tripura as well as Cachar. According to sources, the problem worsened because of the Assam government’s failure to provide security to the railway infrastructure on this route. Recently, the railway authorities decided to deploy two new battalions comprising 2,000 jawans to provide security cover to the railway installations, staff and trains. In addition, the railway authority has decided to convert all the 36 engines plying in the zone including the Lumding-Badarpur route into bullet-proof one. “The decision of the NF railway authority is a positive development as the reinforcement from RPF will also help the ongoing work on conversion of metre gauge into the much-needed broad gauge,” a source said.