Rs 251 crore approved for railway track between Agartala-Akhaura

AGARTALA: Union Railway Ministry has approved an outlay of Rs 251 crore for laying 14 km railway track to connect Agartala with Akhaura (via Gangasagar) in Bangladesh, official sources said today.

Northeastern Frontier Railway (NFR) is likely to undertake work for laying tracks by October next year, Kishore Ambuly, Special Secretary to Transport department said here.

While the Department of North Eastern region (DoNER) ministry would pay Rs 105 crore for construction rail link on the Indian side, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) will provide Rs 146 crore to carry out the project on the Bangladesh side.

He said that another round of joint survey would be conducted next month to officially notify the proposed alignment. Earlier, a joint team comprising representatives from both sides had conducted joint survey in November last year.

Sources in the NFR said, the Detailed Project Report (DPR) was almost ready and would be submitted to the Ministry of Railways and Railway Board for final approval.

The railway extension work from Agaratala to Udaipur in South Tripura district is expected to be completed by December 2012.

The conversion of Broad-Gauge (BG) line from Lumding to Badarpur in Assam has already started and after that BG line would be extended from Badarpur to Agartala.

The NF railway is also conducting a survey to extend railways up to Sabroom, southern border town of Tripura for setting up connectivity with Chittagong Port in Bangladesh, which is just 70 k.m from there.