Akhaura-Agartala rail link to be completed by September 2021: Indian officials

The railway link between Akhaura of Bangladesh and India’s Agartala will be completed by September 2021, Indian officials said today.

The process for acquisition of land and handing it over to the executing agency in both Bangladesh and India has been completed, they added, according to our New Delhi correspondent.

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

India is bearing the cost of laying the tracks.

India’s state-owned IRCON International Ltd is the executing agency for the construction project on both sides and Rs 580 crore has been sanctioned for the India-Bangla railway work in the Indian side.

“Work is in full swing in the Indian side and we hope to complete it before September 2021. The process for acquisition of land is complete and the land has been handed over to IRCON,” Raman Singla, deputy chief engineer of IRCON International Ltd, said in Agartala today.

A district magistrate-level meeting in Agartala yesterday of three districts of Bangladesh and Tripura reviewed the progress of the Agartala-Akhaura railway line.

Mahatme N Sandeep, district magistrate of West Tripura who headed the Indian delegation, said India has set the target of completing the railway project by September 2021.

A 3.1 km long viaduct would be constructed to save land and curtail expenses, IRCON officials said, adding around 600 skilled workers under the supervision of 30 engineers of IRCON are working round the clock to complete the work.

Officials said Nischintapur will have a transhipment yard, the first in the north east of India, and the passengers and goods coming from Bangladesh will be unloaded there.

IRCON engineers are expected to start laying the railway tracks by September or October this year.

The first phase of the 5.46 km Gangasagar-Nischintapur railway track and constructions of a station building, a 1600 m platform and the transhipment yard are expected to be completed by December, officials said.