Imkong Walling
Dimapur | May 7
Nagaland Express – the train service shuttling between Dimapur and Kamakhya junction (on the outskirts of Guwahati) – has much to live up to deserving its name. Supposedly a fast train, it has become a slow coach taking into consideration the time it takes between Dimapur-Guwahati and vice-versa.
Launched with much fanfare on November 15, 2011 from Dimapur, Nagaland Express was on the whole put into service to save passengers the inconvenience of boarding from Dimapur and arriving Guwahati at odd hours. Chief Minister, Neiphiu Rio had stated, during the visit of the then Union Railway Minister, Dinesh Trivedi in September 2011 that the train’s departure from Dimapur and arrival at Guwahati proper would be laid out in such a way that passengers get down at Guwahati railway station not later than noon. The intention was to enable travelers as well as those on business trips to get their work done and return the same day by the same train.
Usually on fine days, four and a half or at the most five hours are the time it takes for other express trains to traverse the Dimapur-Guwahati route. The 250-kilometer route from Dimapur to Guwahati is supposed to be covered in five and a half hours by Nagaland Express making four halts along the way, as mentioned in the NFR time-table. (The return trip takes an additional forty minutes) On the other hand it consumes far more hours, taking on average six to seven hours or more. The time taken is based on the accounts of passengers who took the train in the past two-three weeks.
Two passengers, who took the train on two separate occasions in the last part of April said that it took more than seven hours to reach Guwahati; arriving Guwahati only at near about 2:00 pm. According to the time-table for Nagaland Express found at indiarailinfo.com, the departure from Dimapur is clocked at 6:30 am, scheduled arrival at Guwahati at 11:10 am and finally stopping at Kamakhya Junction at 12:00 noon. It appears this pre-scheduled time-table has gone for a six.
