The first railway line in Assam, 15 miles long, was laid in 1882 between Amolapatty, Dibrugarh and Dinjam Stream for transportation of tea.

[1] During British rule, rail links from Assam to the rest of India were through the eastern part of Bengal.

On the western side, a metre gauge line running via Radhikapur, Biral, Parbatipur, Tista, Gitaldaha and Golokganj connected Fakiragram in Assam with Katihar in Bihar.

Assam was linked to numerous other towns in the eastern part of Bengal through what is now the Mahisasan-Shahbajpur defunct transit point.

The eastern line had been constructed in response to the demand of the Assam tea planters for a railway link to Chittagong port.

Jawaharlal Nehru, India’s first prime minister formally laid the foundation stone on 10 January 1960 and it was completed in 1962, connecting the two parts of the metre gauge railways in Assam.

Due to late handover of land to railways in Assam and Meghalaya, the progress of work was slow up to 2013.