The Indian Railways is actively advancing Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s “Act East Policy” and “Neighbourhood First Policy” by implementing several new railway line projects which link the neighboring countries.
One such important project which is nearing completion is the construction of the Agartala-Akhaura international connection train line between India and Bangladesh.
The works for this railway project are happening in full swing to connect Agartala, the capital city of Tripura, to Akhaura in Bangladesh.
According to Media reports, Sabyasachi De, CPRO of Northeast Frontier Railway (NF Railway) said, “The 15.064 km long railway line (5.05 km in India and 10.014 km in Bangladesh) would link Bangladesh’s Akhaura through an international immigration station at Nischintapur, which will be a dual gauge station for both passenger and goods interchange between India and Bangladesh.”
He said that the project includes 1 major bridge and 3 minor bridges.
“The project includes 1 major bridge and 3 minor bridges. After completion of the project, the travel time between Agartala and Kolkata via Dhaka of about 31 hours will get reduced to 10 hours. The new rail project will boost the bilateral relations between India and Bangladesh which will help grow small-scale industries in the border area and boost tourism in the NE region, particularly, Tripura. It will also help in the export and import of commodities faster and help the local producers to export their produces outside the country faster,” Sabyasachi De said.
He said that the anticipated cost for completion of the Indian portion of the project is Rs 862.58 crore. The funding of the project is under the Ministry of DONER.
“Already about Rs 708.74 crore has been provided and utilized. Allotment of the balance fund from the Ministry of DONER for the completion of the project is under process. However, to speed up the work of the balance portion, Indian Railways has decided to allot Rs 153.84 crore from its own budget proactively. With the release of the fund, the work at the site is progressing in full swing,” Sabyasachi De said. (with inputs from ANI)