By Firstdespatch Desk Oct 30, 2023
Agartala, Oct 30 (FD) The trial-run of Akhaura-Agartala rail link was successfully completed on Monday after a locomotive engine attached with four wagons entered into the Indian territory of Tripura and stopped at Nischintapur, a newly built railway station here, which is also known as Indo-Bangla international railway station.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Bangladesh counterpart Sheikh Hasina will jointly inaugurate a key cross-border railway project on Wednesday, officials said.
The Prime Ministers of the two neighbouring countries will launch the Agartala-Akhaura Cross Border Rail Link Project at 11 a.m. in a virtual ceremony, they said.
Before entering to the Indian side of Nischintpur near Agartala, the BSF personnel carried out the screening of the engine and attached wagons to it.
There was a palpable joy among the people residing near the Indo-Bangla border with many of them flashing their mobile phones to take images and video of the locomotive engine when the white coloured gates opened to allow the engine to enter.
Ministry of DoNER has funded the railway line from Agartala to Nischintpur; whereas Ministry of External Affairs had funded for the rail line from Nischintpur to Gangasagar which is in Bangladesh.
The 15-km rail link (5 km in India and 10 km in Bangladesh) will boost cross-border trade and significantly reduce the travel time between Agartala and Kolkata via Dhaka, the officials said.
It encompasses one major bridge and three minor bridges.
“At present, it takes about 31 hours to reach Kolkata from Agartala by train, which will be reduced to just 10 hours,” an official said.
NF railway officials said that Rs 862 crore was spent to construct the five km long railway line from Agartala railway station to Bangladesh border and the Nischintapur railway station.
Sunindra Chaudhury, an executive engineer of the Indian Railways, said, “This is the first goods train running on meter gauge entering Nischintapur from Bangladesh. The distance from Gangasagar to here is 6.1 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. The first trial run was successful.”
“I’m happy to announce that it has been a long pending project and it has successfully seen a trial run in the meter gauge portion today. It will take another one to two months to connect Agartala railway station… For goods trains, the line will be opened very soon but for passenger trains, there are some formalities that need to be observed by the Indian Railways and the Bangladesh Railway Board,” the official added.
Md Rafizul Rahman, the Bangladeshi loco pilot who was in charge of the goods train, said he started from Gangasagar railway station and reached Akhaura railway station with 14-15 people on board including officials and other personnel.
Abdul Rahim, a railway conductor who was on board, said the rail route would provide benefits to passengers seeking to visit India or travel to different parts of the country using Agartala’s Maharaja Bir Bikram (MBB) Airport. “This is the first time a train from Bangladesh has entered Northeast India. It is a matter of pride for us to have joined this journey,” he added.
Liafta Ali Majumder, a senior engineer of Bangladesh Railways, said the trial run was successfully conducted and passenger trains are likely to be started based on discussions between the governments of both countries. FD JK