'Indo-Bangla railway project to be over by this March': Tripura minister

With its opening, this would be the first railway route from North East India to Bangladesh.

The Indo-Bangla railway connectivity project through Akhaura (Bangladesh) – Agartala (Tripura) would be completed by this March, said a minister.

In this representative image, workers on contract for Indian Railways erect infrastructure for drawing electric cable lines over railway tracks for use by locomotives. (AFP)

The 13 kilometres-long railway project would connect Bangladesh with India’s northeast and West Bengal through Nischintapur along the Indo-Bangla border to serve the purpose of trade and economic relations between the two countries.

"The work is almost completed. We are confident that the railway connectivity between the two countries would start by March," Tripura's transport minister Pranajit Singha Roy told the media.

Akhaura used to be the railway link for Agartala during the British era. It also connected Chittagong Port in Bangladesh and Tripura.

The concept of the Akhaura-Agartala railway project came in 2010. Three years later, both India and Bangladesh signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for the railway project along with other issues.

The project was started with an estimated expenditure of ₹968 crores. With its opening, this would be the first railway route from North East India to Bangladesh.