Railway construction in the Northeast presents unique engineering challenges due to difficult terrain, heavy rainfall, geological uncertainties, landslides, environmental and land-related issues and limited accessibility according to Ashish Bansal, General Manager, Northeast Frontier Railway (Construction).
Addressing INFRABUILD Northeast 2026, Conference on Construction for Infrastructure in Guwahati on September 16,2026, Bansal highlighted that NFR Construction was presently handling over 1,800 km of New Line and Doubling projects, with an overall project cost of over Rs.96,000 crore. About 596 km of these projects have already been completed, while a substantial programme of commissioning is being planned over the next five years, he added.
Achievements
Listing out major achievements of NFR (Construction), Bansal said that the 51-km Bairabi–Sairang new line has been completed, connecting Mizoram’s capital Aizawl. Next was the 111-km Araria–Galgalia new line which was fully commissioned on July 11, 2025, he said.
On the Dimapur–Kohima new line, the Dhansiri–Shokhuvi and Shokhuvi–Molvom sections have already been commissioned, while the 14-km Molvom–Pherima section is targeted for commissioning by March 2027 while the 111-km Jiribam–Imphal new line, has witnessed commissioning of more than 55-km in phases, he informed. The next 9.10-km Khongsang–Awangkhul section is targeted for commissioning in October 2026, he added.
On doubling projects, Katihar–Kuretha (11-km) and Katihar–Sonaili (17-km) sections were commissioned on June 19, 2026, he said.
Project pipeline
NFR Construction currently has 69 surveys in various stages of progress and ongoing Final Location Surveys, Bansal said. Technology-driven construction such as adoption of NATM-based tunnelling, geological mapping, instrumentation, mechanised construction, drones, GNSS, GIS, BIM and digital project monitoring is being done, as railway infrastructure in the Northeast needed to be designed to withstand extreme weather conditions while minimising environmental impact he observed.
Experience gained by NFR Construction in executing projects across difficult and challenging terrain has generated valuable institutional knowledge and innovative engineering practices helpful in creating railway infrastructure that is safe, durable, technologically advanced, environmentally sustainable and delivered within committed time and cost, Bansal summed up.