The railway line, which is 15.064 km long — 5.05 km in India and 10.014 km in Bangladesh — will link Bangladesh’s Akhaura, through an international immigration station at Nischintapur, to the outskirts of Agartala.
This railway link is part of the 16 transit routes that have been declared allowing cargo transportation from Chattogram or Mongla port to Indian states.
The Railway Ministry has allocated Rs 153.84 crore for the under-construction railway line between India’s Tripura to Bangladesh.
By the end of this year or early next year, the Agartala-Akhaura (Bangladesh) railway project — estimated at Rs 862.58 crore, is expected to be operational, reports Economic Times.
Sabyasachi De, the chief public relations officer of Northeast Frontier Railway (NFR), stated that the Ministry of DONER (Development of North Eastern Region) is funding the project and that Rs 708.74 crore of the estimated cost has already been provided and utilised.
This railway link is part of the 16 transit routes that have been declared allowing cargo transportation from Chattogram or Mongla port to Indian states.
The railway line, which is 15.064 km long — 5.05 km in India and 10.014 km in Bangladesh — will link Bangladesh’s Akhaura, through an international immigration station at Nischintapur, to the outskirts of Agartala.
This station will be a dual gauge station for both passenger and goods interchange between India and Bangladesh. The project also includes one major bridge and three minor bridges.
Officials from NFR in Agartala reported that they have already completed over 90 per cent of the work on the Indian side of the Agartala-Akhaura railway project.
Upon completion of the project, the travel time between Agartala and Kolkata via Dhaka, which currently takes about 31 hours, will be reduced to 10 hours.
De stated that the Indian Railways is actively working towards fulfilling the Prime Minister’s vision of ‘Act East Policy’ and ‘Neighborhood First Policy’ by implementing various new railway line projects that connect neighbouring countries.
Constructing the Agartala-Akhaura international connectivity rail line project between India and Bangladesh is one such crucial project that is at an advanced stage of completion.
According to De, the new rail project will enhance relations between India and Bangladesh and aid in the growth of small-scale industries in the border area and boost tourism in the northeastern region.
He added that facilitating faster export and import of commodities would benefit local producers in exporting their products outside the country.