Railways unveil cross-country project in NE

The Indian Railways is all set to construct railway line connecting Bhutan, Nepal, and Bangladesh with the north eastern states of the country. In this connection, the construction organization of Northeast Frontier Railway has already undertaken survey works for providing rail connectivity to these countries. Rail links between India and Bhutan, for which studies were carried out by RITES in 2008, include Kokrajhar-Gelephu, Rangiya-Samdrupjonkhar, Banarhat-Samtse, and Pathsala-Nanglam, but the project remained in limbo till date. Indian Railways priority is to try and double the existing railway link in Assam over the next three years. About the railway link to Bangladesh, official sources said that once the connectivity project is completed, the Agartala-Akhaura international railway link project will boost socio-economic development of not only Tripura but also the entire Northeastern region. This line will be a part of the Trans-Asian Railway network and will provide a much shorter connectivity from Tripura to Kolkata through Bangladesh, as the Agartala-Akhaura line will also connect Northeast India directly with the Ashuganj and Chittagong ports in Bangladesh.