The passenger and goods train will soon start in the newly built Agartala-Akhaura international railway route and the much awaited electrification of Dharmanagar to Sabroom via Agartala railway line will be completed by this year.

During a track review and monitoring of entire infrastructure at Akhaura-Agartala international rail link, Anil Kumar Khandelwal, General Manager of East Central Railway and Member Infrastructure of Railway Board said that the entire stretch of railway network from Agartala station to Nischintapur station on Indian side to Gangasagar station (first station on the Bangladesh side)  is completely ready for both passenger and goods train operations.

Khandelwal accompanied by top officials of Northeast Frontier Railway (NFR) said that after a green signal from both India and Bangladesh governments, the Railway will start its passenger and good train services from Agartala to Bangladesh.

This development came a decade after the two countries signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to start the first Indo-Bangla international railway service between Akhaura (Bangladesh) and Agartala (India).

Earlier, in October, 2023 after the first trial run was successful, the first goods train running on meter gauge entered Nischintapur from Bangladesh. The distance from Gangasagar to here is 8.1 km and the total project length is 12.24 km including 5.46 km on the Indian side and 6.7 km in Bangladesh. Gangasagar is the first station (on the Bangladesh side) that connects India via Nischintapur.”

While highlighting the infrastructure development, Khandelwal said that massive infrastructural development initiated by the Indian Railway in the entire Northeast region and except one capital city of NE states, all the capital city of Northeast has been connected with the railway network.

He mentioned that electrification has been completed along 165 kilometers of the 265 km track from Dharmanagar to Sabroom via Agartala, with the remaining 100 km slated for completion within the next few months of 2024.

For the electrification of railway track from Lumding to Sabroom in Tripura, the Northeast Frontier Railway (NFR) has set a target of completing the task before August 2024, said an official of NFR.

He mentioned that electrification has been completed along 165 km of the 265 km track from Dharmanagar to Sabroom via Agartala, with the remaining 100 km slated for completion by August this year.

About 85% of the electrification work from Lumding to Badarpur, a 172 km stretch, has been completed, said Chief Public Relations Officer of NFR Sabyasachi De.

Overall 65 percent of the tracks that fall under the NFR have been brought under electrification to boost the railway network in the Northeast. In Assam, 55 percent of the total railway tracks have been covered with ongoing electrification drive, said De.

Once the electrification is completed, trains such as Vande Bharat and Amrit Bharat could be introduced; De said and added that several steps have been taken to speed up the process.

De emphasised NFR’s intention to gradually phase out diesel-operated trains, highlighting the advantages of transitioning to electric trains, which will notably reduce diesel expenses.

Running electric trains is more profitable compared to diesel engines. The new system will be cost-effective as well as beneficial for the NFR. The carbon emission will also be scaled down once trains start running on electric, he said.

De also said that the Centre has allocated Rs 260 crore to upgrade Agartala station to world-class standards and Rs 93 crore for the transformation of three railway stations – Dharmanagar, Udaipur, and Kumarghat  into Amrit Bharat stations.