Agartala-Akhaura railway link to be launched in September: Tripura minister
With launching of the railway services, the travel time in Agartala-Kolkata route via Dhaka will be reduced to 10 hours from 31 hours
The railway connectivity between Agartala (India) and Akhaura (Bangladesh) will begin its operations from September, said Tripura Transport Minister Sushanta Chowdhury on Friday.
Chowdhury had recently met and discussed with Indian railway minister Ashwini Vaishnav in the national Capital regarding the development of railway services and infrastructures in the north-eastern Indian state.
"Union railway minister requested the DoNER (Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region) ministry to allocate an additional ₹150 crore to expedite the construction of Agartala-Akhaura railway connectivity. We are hopeful that the work will be completed and launched in September," said Chowdhury adding that the funds will be allocated at the earliest.
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So far, 85% of work on the Indian side and 73% of work on the Bangladesh side are already completed, he added.
With the launching of the railway services, the travel time in the Agartala-Kolkata route via Dhaka will be reduced to 10 hours from 31 hours.
The Indo-Bangla railway line will link Bangladesh's Akhaura through an international immigration station at Nischintapur.
Both countries signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) for the railway project in 2013.
Akhaura was a railway link for Agartala earlier in the British era.
Chowdhury also said that he proposed to the Indian railway minister about the upgradation of the Agartala railway station in Badharghat.
"He assured to look into the issue. We are preparing the detailed project report (DPR) and we are hopeful to lay the foundation stone in the next 2-3 months," he said.
Chowdhury also proposed to introduce Dharmanagar (North district)-Pecharthal (North district)-Kailasahar (Unakoti district) railway connectivity, two escalators at Agartala and Dharmanagar railway stations.
So far, 50% of the survey has been done in the Dharmanagar-Pecharthal-Kailasahar line. The cost for railway connectivity has been estimated at ₹1,855 crore.
Besides, he also made proposals to convert the Lumding (Assam)-Sabroom (Tripura) single railway line track to double line track and expansion of railway connectivity from Belonia (South district) to the zero point of the Indo-Bangla border.
He further added that the air connectivity between Agartala and Chittagong in Bangladesh will commence soon.
The state will spend ₹15 crore every year for the project. Till now, ₹3 crore were already disbursed.
