Five railway Territorial Army units to be disbanded

The Ministry of Railways has decided to disband five Railway Engineers Territorial Army Regiments, an auxiliary force that was raised in 1948 under the Territorial Army Act.

The five units located at Jhansi, Kota, Adra, Chandigarh and Secunderabad, will be disbanded, said a statement from the Ministry of Railways. However, the Railway Engineer Regiment (Territorial Army) located at Jamalpur will be retained for the operational role along the route New Jalpaiguri-Siliguri-Newmal-Alipurduar-Rangiya, the railways said.

The Ministry said that it took the decision based on the recommendation of a high-level officials committee constituted to review the existing functional establishment of Railway Engineers Territorial Army Regiments.

"On the basis of the recommendations of the above committee and with the concurrence of the Ministry of Defence and Directorate General of Territorial Army, Ministry of Railways has decided disbandment of five Railway Engineers Territorial Army Regiments located at Jhansi, Kota, Adra, Chandigarh and Secunderabad. Retention of one Railway Engineer Regiment (TA) located at Jamalpur for the operational role along the route New Jalpaiguri-Siliguri-Newmal-Alipurduar-Rangiya (361 km) to cover the critical rail link through the Siliguri corridor and further up to Rangiya as proposed by Ministry of Defence," the statement said.

The territorial army was raised as a second line of defence which is mandated with maintaining rail communications in forwarding areas during active hostilities and essential rail transportation in the country in the event of a grave national emergency. These are manned primarily by the serving railway personnel with the help of a small nucleus of permanent staff drawn from the regular Army.

The disbandment process is to be completed by the Directorate General Territorial Army within a duration of nine months from the date of issue of the Ministry of Railways letter dated June 3, 2022.