• NET Web Desk

In a major development, a rail coach factory is to be set up soon by the Indian Railways on the Bengal-Assam border near the Alipurduar division of the Northeast Frontier Railway(NFR).

A senior official within the Railways said that, this project would be a first-of-its-kind in east and northeast India. He further stated that, the factory will also help generate employment for residents of north Bengal and Assam both.

Talking to the media, Dilip Kumar Singh, the divisional railway manager (DRM) of Alipurduar division said. “The factory is likely to be set up at a location which is in Assam but is closer to the divisional headquarters of Alipurduar (which is in Bengal). We have started gathering details about stretches of land in the region and would soon start surveying the sites,”

NFR sources further informed that the factory is likely to come up somewhere in Kokrajhar, in Assam that shares borders with Bengal.

A railway official said, “We need to have the factory at a site that is also close to the principal rail track which connects Guwahati and northeast with New Alipurduar and the rest of the country. Experts are drawing layouts and making estimates as there is a plan to build a factory that can manufacture at least 1,000 LHB coaches in a year.”