Tripura-Bangla railway line may miss 2020 deadline

AGARTALA: The 15-km Agartala-Akhaura railway line connecting India and Bangladesh may miss its September 20 deadline.
The project - connecting Badharghat to Nishchintapur in India and onwards to Gangasagar in Bangladesh - was conceptualized in 2010 and the MoU was signed by India and Bangladesh in 2013. Once complete, the railway line will reduce travel time between Agartala and Kolkata from 31 hours to 10 hours, cutting the distance short from 1,600 km to 550 km.It will also allow goods to be transported from the Chittagong port to Agartala faster.
"Work on both stretches has been very slow. The target was to complete laying the railway lines by September next year, but it will be delayed," an Indian Railway Construction Company Limited (IRCON) official said.
Chief minister Biplab Deb reviewed the work on Tuesday with a four-member team, headed by IRCON director (construction) Jogesh Mishra. Later, meeting officials from IRCON and Texmaco Rail and Engineering Limited, Deb asked them to speed up the work to meet the deadline, adding that he would keep reviewing the progress.
To facilitate better connectivity between India and Bangladesh, Deb said there is a plan to launch a bus service from the Agartala airport to Cox's Bazar in Bangladesh via the bridge over the Feni river, also under construction. The journey will take about three to four hours now.