Indian Railways will bid for the modernisation of Chittagong station in Bangladesh and convert the line from narrow gauge to broad gauge. Linked to the Chittagong port on one side and extending into the northeast, the train tracks will enable goods to be shipped faster from Indian ports to the eastern part of the country via its deep sea port.
Currently, goods to the northeastern states go through the chicken’s neck — a narrow 20km-22km corridor in north Bengal wedged between Bangladesh and Nepal. Another corridor, wider than the chicken’s neck, has Bhutan on one side and Bangladesh on the other.
A senior railway official said a proposal for the development of Chittagong station, conversion of the narrow gauge line into broad gauge, and complete overhaul of the rail infrastructure in that part of the country had already been sent. The proposal included extension of the line to the northeast, said an official of the Northeast Frontier Railways (NFR).
The Chittagong rail line was to be developed by the Chinese, but the project fell through after Bangladesh backed out.
The NFR is working on connecting the Agartala station with Akhaura in Bangladesh to operate trains from Kolkata. It now takes around 32 hours to reach Kolkata from Agartala. After the Agartala-Kolkata route comes up via Bangladesh, it will decrease the time by 16 hours, the official said.
The NFR is also working on connecting Tawang in Arunachal Pradesh. The work to connect Gangtok and Nathu La is also in the pipeline.
The NFR general manager Anshul Gupta visited Jalpaiguri Road station on Friday. He said the station would be turned into a world-class facility, along the lines of NJP and New Cooch Behar.
