(a) whether all the State capitals/UTs are connected by rail especially the State capitals of North Eastern Region; and
(b) if not, the steps taken by the Railways for providing connectivity to these capital cities with the rest of India expeditiously?
MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF RAILWAYS (SHRI MANOJ SINHA)
(a): Rail connectivity exists for all State capitals except Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim and Goa. All the Union Territories except Andaman & Nicobar, Dadar & Nagar Haveli, Daman & Diu and Lakshadweep are connected with rail link.
(b): To provide connectivity to capitals of Meghalaya, Manipur, Nagaland and Mizoram, Byrnihat-Shillong, Jiribam-Imphal, Dimapur-Kohima and Bhairabi-Sairang New Line projects have been taken up respectively. Sivok-Rangpo New Line has been taken up to connect Sikkim but the proposal to extend this line upto Gangtok has not been taken up. Presently, there is no proposal to connect Panaji, the capital of Goa with rail link.