Union Minister of State for Co-operation and Development of North Eastern Region- B. L. Verma visited Agartala- Akhaura New Rail Link Project.
He was accompanied by Sriram Taranikanti, Principal Secretary of the Transport department, and Apurva Roy, Secretary of the Planning department.
The inspecting team was welcomed at site by senior officers- Vinod Kumar Gupta (CGM Works) and Raman Singla (general manager) on behalf of the implementing agency- IRCON International Limited.
A detailed project review was conducted by the Union Minister in the presence of higher officials. The IRCON officials briefed the Union Minister about the project.
The CGM of IRCON (works) explained that currently the distance between Agartala and Kolkata through the rail route is around 1600 kms and it takes around 38 hours. Once the project is completed, the distance would reduce to around 500 km and the travel time would also reduce to about 16 hours.
The Principal Secretary, Transport informed the Union Minister that Tripura is a land locked state with no access to port connectivity and has to rely on road transportation for supply of goods.
After the completion of the said project the state will have access to Chittagong port of Bangladesh and will result in reduction in cost of transportation of goods. This will help Tripura to be the Gateway of North-eastern States.
He further added that the new Railway line starts from Agartala Railway station and joins the Railway network of Bangladesh Railway at Gangasagar Station. In the Indian portion, the length of the project is 5.46 km and in the Bangladesh side, the length is 6.78 km.
Singla gave a brief picture of the technical features of the project. The project is basically divided into two phases. Under Phase-I, the Nischintapur Station Yard would be prepared and under the Phase-II works, the rail link would be established from Agartala Station Yard to Nischintapur Station Yard.
The work for Nischintapur Yard i.e. Phase-I of AANRLP Project is almost completed but the final commissioning of Phase-I of the project can be possible only when the Bangladesh portion of the project gets completed since the rail track in Bangladesh is of Meter Gauge and Meter Gauge Rolling Stock is not available with Indian Railways.
The station building of Nischintapur Station Yard is being constructed as a model building and will have facilities required for immigration and customs.
Upon enquiry by the visiting team, regarding cross country goods movement, GM/IRCON replied that the goods from Bangladesh shall be received in Line no. 3 & 4 (meter gauge) and thereafter transhipment of goods will be done to Line no. 5 & 6 (Broad Gauge) at Nischintapur Station Yard for onwards movement. In addition, IRCON is also providing a dedicated road connectivity in the Nischintapur Station Yard to facilitate movement of goods and passengers.
According to a government press release, the CGM-IRCON informed the Union Minister that the progress in Bangladesh side was only 50 % so far due to poor performance of the implementing agency appointed by Bangladesh Railways.
He also apprised the Union Minister that the piling work of Viaduct Substructure is nearing completion and other works like Pile Cap, Pier and Pier Cap work is in progress as per schedule.
The Union Minister of State expressed satisfaction regarding progress of the national importance project and instructed Railway and IRCON officials to complete the project in India side within the stipulated time. He also assured that there would be no constraint of funds for the project.
—
