Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi has requested Railway Minister Dinesh Trivedi for
more trains for Assam, particularly to link Chennai and Mumbai. Trivedi will
present the Railway Budget 2012-13 on March 14.
The Assam chief minister made the request to the railway minister in New Delhi on Tuesday. He urged Trivedi to declare the Northeast Frontier Railway as a
dedicated rail zone exclusively for northeastern states.
Gogoi said Assam badly needed a new daily express train between Guwahati and Chennai via Kolkata and another between Guwahati and Mumbai, bringing to light that currently, it takes very long for people in Assam to travel to the southern and western parts of the country.
The chief minister also
sought a new superfast express train connecting Jorhat-Sivasagar-Moran-Dibrugarh.
"If this happens, the travel time between Guwahati and Upper Assam will be considerably reduced," Gogoi said.