AGARTALA, Feb 15 (TIWN): The long wait of northeastern state of Tripura to have direct broad-gauge rail connectivity with rest of India soon. The railways already undertaking the project, what they call as ‘Mega Block’, to convert the state’s metre gauge rail track to broad gauge.

Agartala found place in the railway map of India in the year 2008 when a metre gauge line was extended from Kumarghat, also in Tripura, to Agartala. This gave the city 407 km direct metre-gauge rail connectivity with Lumding in central Assam. A daily express train ran between Lumding and Agartala. Lumding is an important railway junction of Assam and falls under Guwahati-Dibrugarh broad-gauge rail section.

Inordinate delays in completion of gauge conversion work on Lumding-Badarpur section, which falls in Assam, had delayed the realization of having direct broad-gauge rail connectivity for Tripura for long.“The Rs 3,500-crore Lumding-Badarpur-Silchar gauge conversion project was already completed .The 210-km long Lumding-Silchar Line is lifeline for Barak Valley (south Assam) and the states of Tripura, Manipur and Mizoram. These states are dependent on this line for supply of foodgrains, fertilisers, petroleum products etc. After gauge conversion of Guwahati-Lumding line in 1994, the transhipment point got shifted from Guwahati to Silchar via Lumding. 

“The distinct advantage of having a broad gauge rail destination at Agartala would be that it will not only serve as a railway junction for further expansion of network in the region but would, in the later stages, also help in supplementing the rail connection with neighbouring countries, particularly Bangladesh. In addition to improving the transport infrastructure in the region, this would also be an adjuvant to India’s “Act East” policy,” said Jitendra, Union minister for Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER).

The Indian railways is also in the process of laying a 15 km long rail track to connect Agartala with Akhaura in Bangladesh. This is with the objective to provide an alternative rail route for Northeast India to Kolkata via Bangladesh.