Modi, Hasina will jointly inaugurate cross border rail project, this project will connect both the countries

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Bangladesh counterpart Sheikh Hasina will jointly inaugurate a major cross-border railway project on Wednesday, officials said. He said the Prime Ministers of the two neighboring countries will launch the Agartala-Akhaura Cross Border Rail Link Project in a virtual ceremony at 11 am. Officials said the 15 km long rail link (5 km in India and 10 km in Bangladesh) will boost cross-border trade and significantly reduce travel time between Agartala and Kolkata via Dhaka.

The trial of the project will take place on Monday at 12 noon. It consists of one major bridge and three minor bridges. An official said that at present it takes about 31 hours to reach Kolkata from Agartala by train, which will reduce to only 10 hours. He said Indian Railways has allocated Rs 153.84 crore from its budget to expedite the work on the project.

The Akhaura-Agartala new railway line (5.05 km in India and 10.014 km in Bangladesh) will connect the railway station of Akhaura in Bangladesh through an international immigration station at Nishchintpur in Western Tripura. Funded by India, the Northeast Frontier Railway (NFR) is the nodal agency of the Rs 1,000 crore Agartala-Akhaura Railway Project, which was finalized in January 2010 when the Prime Minister of Bangladesh met the then Indian Prime Minister during her visit to New Delhi. Had met Manmohan Singh.

The Agartala-Akhaura Railway Project, which is a dual gauge station for exchange of both passenger and freight between India and Bangladesh, will help the people of the north-eastern states, especially Tripura and the southern part of Assam and Mizoram, by saving 22 Will enable us to go to Kolkata. Currently people from the region, especially Tripura and its surrounding areas, travel to Kolkata via Guwahati by rail, which takes more than 38 hours.