Minister of State for Railways Manoj Sinha has announced that the capitals of all north-eastern states would be connected by rail by 2020 and Agartala would be brought onto the map of broad gauge network by March. Sinha today received the first broad gauge trial train in Agartala in the presence of state PWD Minister Badal Chowdhury and Transport Minister Manik Dey. He said the construction of 15 km-long railway track to connect Agartala with Akhaura in Bangladesh “is a top priority”.

The project is funded by the Government of India for connecting Tripura and West Bengal via Bangladesh. The process of acquiring land in Bangladesh was complete and in India, it would start soon, he said adding a 3.7 km-long railway track on Indian side would be a viaduct (through an elevated corridor) to reduce the cost of acquisition of land.

Laying of railway line from Agartala to Sabroom in South Tripura district bordering Bangladesh would be completed by 2018.

 North East Indian States  [table id=2 /]