Agartala-Akhaura rail line to be completed by December: Official

AGARTALA: The Rs 980 core railway line project between Agartala in Tripura and Akhaura in Bangladesh will be completed by December, a senior official said on Sunday.

The 15.6-km-long railway link will connect Gangasagar in Bangladesh to Nischintapur in India, and from Nischintapur to Agartala railway station.

"Work on the Indian side has already been completed. The work on the Bangladesh side was stopped due to the COVID-related lockdown, but it will resume from Monday," Raman Singla, Deputy Chief Engineer of IRCON International Ltd, told PTI.

"The entire project would be completed by December this year," he said.

The Ministry of Development of the North Eastern Region (DoNER) is bearing the cost for laying the track on the 5.46 km link on the Indian side, and the cost of laying the 10.6-km-long track on the Bangladesh side is being borne by the Ministry of External Affairs, the official said.

IRCON International is the executing agency for the construction of the project on both sides.

Nischintapur has a transhipment yard, the first in the northeast region, and the passengers coming from Bangladesh will be deboarded there.

The incoming goods will also be offloaded at Nischintapur.