Passengers at Dmu Railway Station given a raw deal by NFR authorities

For a railway station which is not a junction, Dimapur railway station earns the second highest revenue for the Northeast Frontier Railway(NFR), next to Guwahati Railway station.
However, despite its impressive run of revenue generation for the NFR, thousands of passenger boarding the train at Dimapur railway station continue to be totally ignored by the railway authorities at Maligaon.
Out of 43 trains passing through Dimapur between Dibrugarh to various other destinations, all trains halt briefly only for five minutes at Dimapur railway station including the Jan Shatabi Express which was supposed to run between Dimapur to Guwahati.
The Jan Shatabi was gradually extended to Jorhat, then Mariani and Furkating which also led to drastic reduction of seat quotas in first class.
Trains that halt for ten minutes at Dimapur Railway Station include- Intercity Express,Kamrup Express,Jhajha-Dibrugarh Express, Brahmaputra Mail, Dibrugarh-Chennai Express, Mariani Intercity Express, Lumding-Tinsukia passenger, Dibrugar-Amritsar Express and Dibrugarh Express. The Kamakhya-Dimapur BG Express train halts for 15 minutes.
Passenger from Dimapur can only avail, without haste, the Nagaland Express which earlier used to depart for Guwahati at 6.30 a.m. but which now has been advanced to 6 a.m. There have been criticisms for advancement of the timing since passengers would find it difficult to commute by hired rickshaws during winter months.
Dimapur Railway Station serves not only the needs of passengers of Nagaland but also Manipur and nearby Karbi Anglong.
Most of the long-distance trains arrive Dimapur at odd hours in the morning; ranging from12.20 ; 00:10 to 01:20 a.m.
The very fact that Dimapur Railway Station is the second highest revenue earner for the NFR indicates that it has a very high volume of passengers from Nagaland including Manipur.
As can be found, there are around 43 trains of which more than half originate from Dibrugarh Railway Station. With over half the trains halting only for five minutes at Dimapur Railway Station, the problems faced by passenger at Dimapur can only be imagined, especially when many travel with families and luggage.
As also mentioned, the train timings are not at all convenient for passengers boarding trains at Dimapur. This may also include passengers detraining at Dimapur Railway Station at odd hours of the morning where safety and security continues to be a concern; perhaps not only in Dimapur but even in other stations. However, in the case with Dimapur, the options are non-existent since all trains passing through Dimapur are timed to suit the passengers boarding at Dibrugarh etc.
When Dimapur Railway Station is the second highest revenue earner for the NFR, it stands to reason, that passengers deserve to be given at least four additional trains originating from Dimapur.
The timing also should be such, that passengers from Dimapur travelling on long distance to the south or north, are able to catch the connecting train at Guwahati without having to face constraint of time and at the mercy of unreliable running time.
The Jan Shatabdi, Nagaland Express and Kamakhya-Dimapur BG trains are always over full and passengers are often left at the mercy of ticket touts for tickets.This constant problem needs to be tackled. One of the option is for the NFR authorities at Mailgaon, to extend the Garibh Rath, which runs between Sealdah-Guwahati , to Dimapur. The Garibh Rath, on arrival at Guwahati halts for 24 hours before returning to Sealdah, During that time, the Garib Rath could be made to run to Dimapur and back. The time for the to and fro journey between Guwahati to Dimapur is not beyond ten hours. The train can return back to Guwahati at least ten hours before its scheduled departure for Sealdah.
The other problem that continues to plague Dimapur Railway Station is that out of three platforms, only one(No 1) has a roof while the other two-Nos.2 and 3 are without roof.
During monsoon months passengers entraining or detraining from the two platform face a harrowing time, especially when the trains halt only for five minutes.
The NFR has grand projects to beautify Dimapur Railway Station, but passengers would be more happy if they can avail tickets easily and also at schedules that are convenient; after all they are paying and most times, have to pay extra to get seats because Dimapur does not figure in the seat quota.