Agartala-Akhaura train link with cut travel time from Kolkata to NE

Travel time to North Eastern states is set to reduce considerably with Railway minister Dinesh Trivedi today proposing to connect Agartala with Akhaura in Bangladesh, opening up a direct link between Kolkata to Tripura capital through the neighbouring country.

Travel time to North Eastern states is set to reduce considerably with Railway minister Dinesh Trivedi today proposing to connect Agartala with Akhaura in Bangladesh, opening up a direct link between Kolkata to Tripura capital through the neighbouring country.

HT Image

Trivedi said the rail link will not only "improve bilateral ties but will also help in establishing connectivity with inaccessible areas in North East," he said.

"Journey from Kolkata to Bangladesh will result in significant savings in time and distance travelled," he said.

At present, Railways run Maitree Express between Kolkata and Dhaka.

Trivedi said that in keeping with their approach of improving relations with neighbouring countries, Railways had in this fiscal taken up two projects connecting to Nepal.

They are Jogbani to Biratnagar and Jaynagar-Bijalpura to Bardibas in Nepal.

On the other hand, the Minister spelt out several passenger-friendly initiatives. One such schemes includes alternative train accommodation system as a pilot project to accommodate waitlisted passengers.

He said escorting of trains by RPF/GRP has been extended to almost 3500 trains.

"It is also proposed to integrate the RPF helpline with the all India passenger helpline to facilitate much faster response to security needs of the passengers.