Tripura: Railways allots Rs 153 crore to complete Agartala – Akhaura railway link

In a bid to speed up the work of the Agartala (Tripura) – Akhaura Bangladesh connectivity project, the Indian Railways has decided to allot Rs 153.84 crore from its own budget proactively.

As per an official statement from NFR, the construction of the Agartala – Akhaura international connectivity rail line project between India and Bangladesh is one such crucial project that is at an advanced stage of completion, and the works for this railway project is going on in full swing to connect Agartala to Akhaura in Bangladesh.

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. 

The project includes 01 major bridge and 03 minor bridges and 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 statement further claimed that 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 export and import of commodities faster and help the local producers to export their produces outside the country faster,'' it added.

The statement further 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 being done by 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”, the read further.

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