The romantic East: Burma, Assam, & Kashmir - Khamkoo

ASSAM 107
said he had never heard of, or sold a ticket to,
Kamarbandha Ali, a station 460 miles from Chittagong
up the main line.
The Assam -Bengal railway
is a metre -gauge
line open from Chittagong
Brahmaputra valley,
to Tinsukia in the
a distance of 574 miles, with
branches aggregating about 165 miles in length.
In addition to the very exceptional damage, amounting
to over 90,000, it received in the earthquake
of June 12, 1897, when over 1500 people were
killed in Assam, the railway is subject
to annual
damage during the rains in the difficult hill section,
and elsewhere on the line. For it must be remembered
that one place in the Khasi Hills north-west
of the railway holds the world's record for rainfall,
and after the rains trains are liable to interruptions,
even if the line is not in places entirely carried
away,
and constant labour is
required
line in working condition.
to keep the
The closest connection we could make involved
a wait of eight hours at Laksam Junction, so we
took the train down to Chandpur
on the east bank
of the Meghna, one of the great rivers
formed by
the junction of the Ganges and the Brahmaputra.