- Abhijit Nath, NET Correspondent, Tripura
Agartala, September 13, 2022: In a significant development, the General Manager of Northeast Frontier Railway (NFR) Anshul Gupta met with Tripura’s Chief Minister Dr Manik Saha at Agartala Railway Station on Tuesday evening and discussed about multiple projects undertaken by the NFR in connecting the state with entire northeast and neighbouring country Bangladesh as well.
The meeting discussed the progress of various projects for the development of the railway communication system of the state, including the launch of a double lane track from Lumding to Agartala. GM of NF Railway said in the meeting that necessary steps and initiatives are being taken by North-East Frontier Railway in all these matters. The necessary survey work for the construction of a double lane track from Dharmanagar via Agartala to Belonia has already been completed and sent to the Railway Board for approval.
It is to be noted that during the recent visit of the Chief Minister to Delhi, the Chief Minister said that discussions were held with the Union Minister of Railways regarding the improvement of railway services in the state, including the increase in infrastructure.
In the meeting, the Chief Minister emphasized on the completion of the Agartala-Akhaura rail link as soon as possible. In this regard, the General Manager of NF Railway said that the work has been resumed at a fast pace after receiving the necessary financial approval for this work. The meeting was informed by the NF Railway that initiatives have been taken to develop the Agartala railway station into an international standard railway station. Such state-of-the-art railway stations will have healthcare facilities, shopping malls, food courts, cultural facilities and other advanced services. In addition, the work of expanding the rail link up to the integrated check post in Sabroom will be taken up. In addition, Chief Minister Dr Saha requested the officials of NF Railway to speedily monitor all the projects which are awaiting approval from the Ministry of Railways and Railway Board and complete the work of other rail links expeditiously.
The electrification of the railway track from Badarpur to Sabroom will be completed by September 2023, NF Railway informed in today’s meeting that the survey work of the Indian part of Belonia-Feni rail link has been completed, and it has been sent to the Railway Board for approval.
Besides, the issue of progress of work on the Bangladesh part has been sent for the intervention of the Ministry of External Affairs on behalf of the Railways. In the meeting organized in the conference room of the Agartala railway station in the evening, in addition to the officials of the North-East Frontier Railway, the special secretary of the state transport department Dr Sandeep Rathore and Additional Secretary Subrata Chowdhury were present.
Meanwhile, a team of other senior officials led by NF Railway General Manager Anshul Gupta met state Chief Secretary JK Sinha at Civil Secretariat here on Tuesday afternoon and discussed in detail the issues related to railway services.
