The story so far: Landslides have killed at least 125 people across four north-eastern States this year after the onset of rainfall in April. Almost half of them — 49 confirmed and 12 others missing with little chance of survival — died working on a railway project at the Tupul substation in Makhuam village of Manipur’s Noney district on June 30. The Railways have reportedly blamed jhum or shifting or slash-and-burn cultivation on hill slopes for the tragedy, sparking debates on the tendency to overlook geological challenges and not factor in climate change while executing major developmental projects.
What is the Jiribam-Imphal railway?
Sanctioned in February 2005 as a national project, the 110.625 km Jiribam-Imphal line is considered a vital segment of the Trans-Asian Railway envisaged as an integrated freight railway network across Europe and Asia. The broad-gauge project entails connecting Manipur’s Jiribam, a town on the border with Assam, and State capital Imphal mostly across the fragile hills of Noney district, is expected to reduce the travel time from the existing 10-12 hours to three hours. More than 65% of this project with an anticipated cost of ₹14,322.79 crore has been completed and goods trains reached the Khongsang railway station, 68.605 km from Jiribam, in March. The railways have tagged this project, expected to be functional by December 2023, as its most ambitious and challenging endeavour. The project involves 46 tunnels with a total length of 61.398 km, 16 road overbridges and under-bridges, and 140 major and minor rail bridges. Tunnel number 12 on this line is India’s longest railway tunnel at 11.55 km and one of the rail bridges near Noney is being built at a pier height of 141 metres, the world’s tallest.
