Chief Minister Professor Dr. Manik Saha held a meeting with Ansul Gupta, General Manager of the North East Frontier Railway, on various issues related to the state’s railways. The meeting discussed the development of the state’s railway system and the progress of various projects, including the launch of double lane track from Lumding to Agartala.
General Manager of North East Frontier Railway said in the meeting that necessary steps and initiatives have been taken by North-East Frontier Railway on all these matters. The necessary survey work for the construction of a double lane track from Dharmanagar to Belonia via Agartala has already been completed and sent to the Railway Board for approval. It is to be noted that during the recent visit of Chief Minister to Delhi, the Chief Minister informed that discussions were held with the Union Minister of Railways regarding the improvement of railway services in the state, including the upgradation of infrastructure.
At the meeting, 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. It was also informed in the meeting by the NF Railway that initiatives have been taken to develop the Agartala railway station into an international standard rail station. Such state-of-the-art railway stations will have healthcare facilities, shopping malls, food courts, cultural facilities and other advanced services. Also, the work of extending the rail link up to Sabroom Integrated Check-post will be undertaken. Chief Minister requested NF Railway officials to speed up the supervision of all the projects that are waiting for the approval of the Ministry of Railway and the Railway Board and to finish the work of other rail links quickly.
At the meeting, Chief Minister requested to increase the number of more foot over bridges at railway stations in the state. A demand was made by the state government regarding the introduction of accelerators at Agartala and Dharmanagar railway stations. In the meantime, General Manager NF Railway said in the meeting that 2 accelerators have been approved at Agartala railway station. A proposal has been sent to the Railway Board for starting the Agartala-Guwahati inter-city train service and requested for its speedy implementation. It was also informed that the Agartala-Deoghar rail service will be extended to Sabroom. Besides, Agartala-Mumbai, Agartala-Jammu and Agartala-Puri rail services were also approved by the Railway Board. In addition, the initiative to transport petroleum-products by rail from Dharmanagar has been undertaken. As a result of this, transportation cost of petroleum-products will be reduced and it will also get rid of the problems caused in the transportation of goods during natural calamities.
Construction of 23 Road Over Bridges/ Road under Bridges has already been approved. The construction of 12 Road Over Bridges/ Road under Bridges is progressing rapidly. Chief Minister requested to complete the remaining works quickly. Chief Minister has requested to start Kisan-Rail once a week so that agricultural products, pottery, handicrafts and other goods produced in the state can be sent to other states. Under the One-Station One-Product scheme, Railways has taken initiatives to display popular specialty products of the specified station area in all railway stations in the state. The main objective of this project is to market agricultural, horticultural and bamboo and other handicrafts by local artists and entrepreneurs and showcase them to the tourists. Chief Minister has requested the Railway authorities to strengthen the ticket service by providing necessary ticket counters and required number of staff in all the stations in the state and to pay special attention to ensure that people are not harassed. Necessary proposal for launching vista-dome coaches for development of tourism infrastructure has been sent by the state government and the approval of the railway is assured. The meeting also laid emphasis in providing canopies to the rest of the platforms and improving the cleanliness of railway coaches and improving the quality of passenger services.
The electrification of the railway track from Badarpur to Sabroom will be completed by September 2023, this was informed by General Manager of NF railway. Survey work on the Indian side of the Belonia-Feni rail link has been completed, and has been sent to the Railway Board for approval. Besides, the issue on the Bangladesh part has been sent for the intervention of the Ministry of External Affairs on behalf of the Railway. The meeting was also attended by special secretary of the state transport department, Sandeep Rathore and additional secretary Subrata Chowdhury.
Meanwhile, a team of senior officials led by General Manager of NF Railway, Ansul Gupta met state Chief Secretary J.K Sinha on the afternoon of 13th September, 2022 and discussed in detail the issues related to railway services.
