On Tuesday, at the Chief Minister’s official residence, a delegation headed by General Manager (Operations) Sunil Kumar Jha of the North East Frontier Railway met with Chief Minister Dr. Manik Saha.

The delegation and the chief minister had a discussion about a range of topics during the meeting, including the growth of the state’s infrastructure and railway services. The process of transforming the state’s single-line rail tracks into double-line tracks has begun, according to Mr. Jha, General Manager of North East Frontier Railway, during the discussion.

Necessary steps have been taken to complete preliminary survey work for the conversion of 243 KM Railway from Chandranath in the Haflong area to Sabroom in South Tripura via Agartala to double track by June 2024. The Agartala Akhaura Rail Link Project is moving forward quickly as it will connect Agartala Railway Station to Gangasagar in Bangladesh and Kolkata through Dhaka.

GM said that the work on the railway connection will be completed by October of the current financial year. Moreover, General Manager Jha assured the Chief Minister that the State Government’s proposal to increase the number of coaches in local DEMU trains, including running additional passenger trains on the Agartala-Dharmanagar route would be taken into consideration by the Railway Authority.

According to him, the railway authorities are considering adding intercity train services between Agartala and Guwahati, including trains to Mumbai, Jammu, and Puri.

However, The rail track from Badarpur to Sabroom will be entirely electrified by March 2024, according to the general manager of North East Frontier Railway. The proposal to construct three alternative rail links – 41.75 km long Pecharthal-Kailashahar-Dharmanagar, 178.72 km long Dharmanagar to Belonia, and 2.92 km long Belonia to Feni – is awaiting approval from the Railway Board.

In addition, the representatives of North East Frontier Railway stated that three railway stations in the state have been brought under the Amrit Bharat Station Scheme for upgradation and modernization.

In this project, a total expenditure of 90.7 Crore rupees has been allocated for Dharmanagar, Kumarghat, and Udaipur Matabari Railway Station.

Secondly, Chief Minister Saha drew attention and informed to the NFR officials about the inadequacy of the ticketing system at Jawahar Nagar, Nal Kata, Sekerkote, and S.K Para railway stations, lack of passenger services and the lack of cleanliness in DEMU trains.

The Chief Minister voiced his concern regarding the smuggling of drugs through the railroads and urged the railroad authorities to take the required actions to deploy an adequate number of security personnel on the rails.