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Connectivity in the Northeast received a shot in the arm with Union Railway Minister Suresh Prabhakar Prabhu laying the foundation stone for a 15.06-km railway track that will link Agartala with Akhaura station in Bangladesh. Bangladesh Railway Minister, Md Mazibul Hoque, also joined him in the function held in Agartala.
Speaking on the occasion, Prabhu lauded the Bangladesh government for its cooperation in establishing rail link and said more options for inter-connectivity with Bangladesh would be explored in the days to come. While the railway link would finally directly connect Agartala with Kolkata through Bangladesh, it would also help direct freight movement and exchange tourists between the two countries.
While the Centre had in 2010 earmarked Rs 968-crore for the Agartala-Akhaura rail link which will be fully funded by it, the ministry for development of Northeast had in May this year released Rs 150 crore for the initial works related to the project. With land acquisition emerging as a major problem, the Agartala-Akhaura rail link will be executed as an elevated project, Prabhu said.
Prabhu also pointed out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision for development of the Northeastern states and said the Railways had a major role in realising this vision. “Railway’s capital investment in the Northeastern region has been consistently increased and approximately Rs 7000 crore will be allocated for developmental projects in the region next year,” he said.
“Railway’s initiatives for better connectivity of the region will result in all-round development in North-east and the region will gradually have the highest per capita income in the country. Indian Railways is exploring ways and means to bring in more investment to the region beyond the budgetary provisions,” he added. On the progress made in laying new broad gauge lines in the country, the minister said that soon railways would be able to lay 11 km of new railway line per day instead of the current 4 km a day.
Agartala finally found place in the national railway map in the true sense of the term when Union Railway Minister Suresh Prabhakar Prabhu flagged off the first Tripura Sundari Express from Agartala to Delhi (Anandvihar). The weekly train will take 47 hours to cover a distance of 2,480 kms.
With this, Agartala also became the third state capital in the Northeast to be connected by a direct train to the national capital after Guwahati and Itanagar. Four Northeastern state capitals – Shillong, Kohima, Imphal and Aizwal – are however yet to come on the railway map.
Minister Prabhu also announced that work on the Rs 3351-crore Agartala-Sabroom broad-gauge track covering a distance of 112 km was progressing well and the track would be ready by March 2018. The Agartala-Sabroom railway track will be one step forward towards a direct link to the Chittagong port in Bangladesh. The distance between Sabroom and Chittagong is only 74 kms.
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