Rail connectivity between Agartala in India and Akhaura in Bangladesh will begin its operations in September, Tripura Transport Minister Sushanta Chowdhury announced on Friday.
Indo-Bangla rail connectivity would cut down travel time for Agartala-Kolkata via Dhaka from 31 hours to 10 hours, reports the Hindustan Times.
"The Union Railway Minister asked an additional 150 crore rupees from the DoNER (Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region) ministry to speed up the development of the Agartala-Akhaura railway link. We are hopeful that the work will be finished and launched in September, and we will allocate the cash as soon as possible,” the minister said.
So far, 85% of the work on the Indian side and 73% of the work on the Bangladesh side are already completed, he added.
Besides, he also made proposals to convert the Lumding (Assam) to Sabroom (Tripura) single railway line track to double line track and expansion of railway connectivity from Belonia (South district) to the zero point of the Indo-Bangla border.
He further added that air connectivity between Agartala and Chittagong in Bangladesh will commence soon.