An official said that the technical trial run on the newly constructed railway tracks from Bangladesh’s Gangasagar to Tripura’s Nischintapur was carried out successfully on Thursday, paving the way for strengthening connectivity between India’s northeast region and the neighboring country.

The 6.7-km stretch is part of the 15-km rail link connecting Tripura’s capital Agartala with Gangasagar in Brahmanbaria district of Bangladesh.

Texmaco Rail & Engineering Ltd has been engaged to construct the railway tracks from Gangansagar to Nischintapur railway station.

“The 20-minute journey from Gangasagar to zero point at Nischintapur was smooth, and there was no difficulty. The speed of the train was 30 km per hour. Now, the track is ready for train service. The government will decide when it will introduce train service on the newly built tracks,” Texmaco Rail & Engineering Ltd vice president Sarat Sharma told reporters here.

He added that the construction work on the route was taken up in 2018, but the Covid pandemic has delayed the project.

“Now, we are happy that the tracks are ready for train service,” he said.

The train service is expected to be delayed for a few days because modification work inside the Nischintapur railway yard has been taken up following recommendations from immigration and customs departments, another official said.

As part of the 15-km rail link between Agartala and Gangasagar, IRCON constructed the tracks on the Indian side.

“To introduce train service, immigration and customs facilities are required. Now, we are working to modify some rooms of the railway yard, and it will be completed by the next couple of days,” an IRCON official said.

Notably, Tripura Transport Minister Sushanta Chowdhury had in April, said the rail link between Agartala and Bangladesh’s Gangasagar would be completed by September. (PTI)