Northeast Frontier (NF) Railway boosting services in Tripura

GUWAHATI: The Northeast Frontier (NF) Railway has been attempting to focus on infrastructural development of the existing railway transportation system and to boost tourism and improve connectivity in Tripura.

Tripura is one of the fastest growing States of North-East and encircled by Bangladesh in the north, south and west and the States of Assam and Mizoram in the east. The railway being the main lifeline of the Indian economy, railway infrastructure is significant for the landlocked State of Tripura.

Tripura has seen major development works in railway sector from 2014-22. The entire railway network in Tripura has been converted to a broad gauge network during 2014-22, thereby eliminating all metre gauge railway lines in Tripura. To enhance connectivity, various sections like Agartala-Udaipur, Udaipur-Garjee, Garjee-Santirbazar, Belonia-Sabroom got connected by broad gauge line in Tripura. During the period 2014-22, 115 km of new broad gauge lines was commissioned in Tripura. Tripura's capital Agartala has reserved a place on India's broad gauge map with the much-awaited starting of the Agartala-Anand Vihar Tripura Sundari Express on July 31, 2016. The first Rajdhani Express in Indian Railways with Tejas type AC sleeper coaches with latest amenities was introduced from Agartala on February15, 2021. It has already completed one year of successful running. Trains to Secunderabad and Bangalore from Agartala were also introduced. On January 8, 2022 the first train connecting Tripura and Manipur, the Janshatabdi express train between Agartala-Jiribam via Assam, was flagged off.

NF Railway has come to Tripura's rescue with the Roll On-Roll Off service to carry laden trucks loaded with fuel on flat-wagon goods train. When severe landslides had cut off road connectivity to Tripura during July-August, 2016, shortage of fuel supply by road caused severe crisis in the State. NF Railway stepped in to run the first-ever such train from Bhanga (Assam) to Churaibari in Tripura. The road connecting Tripura with Assam has been in a very bad shape, disrupting the flow of commodities to Tripura and leading to a severe crisis.This helped Tripura to overcome the problem of fuel shortage.

The new railway line project (15 km) - with a cost of Rs 968 crore - between Agartala in Tripura and Akhaura in Bangladesh will be completed very soon. Surveys are going on for new BG lines of 2.9 km Belonia-Chittagong to connect with Bangladesh, 45 km Pencharthal to Dharmanagar via Kailashahar and 170 km Dharmanagar to Pencharthal, Belonia via Kamalpur-Khowai to Agartala. Once all these projects will be finished, the economy of the State will benefit immensely.

Also Read: Railways To Invest Over Rs 95,261 Crore To Connect State Capitals Of Northeast

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