Rail-link between Tripura-Chittagong proposed - bdnews24.com
Rail-link between Tripura-Chittagong proposed
Samir Purkyastha, Kolkata, bdnews24.com
Published: 12 Sep 2013 15:09 BdST Updated: 12 Sep 2013 15:09 BdST
Indian Railways has drawn an ambitious plan to connect the countrys north-east region with neighbouring Bangladesh and Myanmar.
North East Frontier Railway, one of the 16 zones of the Indian Railways, which oversee the railway operation in the remote northeast, has already prepared a master plan for the projects.
The project will be in addition to the proposed railway link between Agartala in India with Akhaura in Bangladesh as per the bilateral agreements during the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh visit to Dhaka in 2011.
According to NFR officials, formalities have been completed for issuing work order to Ircon International Ltd to lay the railway tracks between Agartala and Akhaura.
The new proposal is to link Belonia in Tripura with Bangladeshs port city of Chittagong.
A top NFR official at its headquarters in Maligaon, Guwahati told the bdnews24.com that funds have already been sanctioned for a feasibility study.
This is as part of the governments decision to increase connectivity and trade with neighbouring countries, particularly Bangladesh.
Not only is trade between the two countries increasing, more and more Indian companies are showing keen interest to invest in various segments and joint sector ventures in Bangladesh," Indian high commissioner to Dhaka Pankaj Saran had told media while visiting India-Bangladesh check post at Akhura on Wednesday.
The further growth of bilateral trade would require better connectivity, particularly through rail-links, says Bijoy Gupta of Assam Chamber of Commerce.
Bangladesh had exported goods worth $562 million to India in the last fiscal (2012-13).
The NFR official said a similar feasibility study of a proposed railway projects connecting Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Meghalaya, Tripura and Mizoram with Myanmar has already started.
According to the plan, a 252-km railway track would be laid between Jawharnagar, the headquarters of Dhalai district in Tripura, and Darlong city of Myanmar through Kolasib in Mizoram.
"In the first phase, survey of the 109-km railway line between Jawharnagar and Kolashib has already started. In the next-phase the remaining 148-km track, between Kolasib and Darlong, will be surveyed. If all goes well, track-laying would begin in the next few years," the official said.
Survey of the route from Jiribam to Moreh and then to Tamu in Myanmar via Imphal is expected to be completed by next March, he said, adding survey for the route connecting Aizawl and Myanmar from Sairang covering 226 km has already started.
Rail-link between Tripura-Chittagong proposed
Samir Purkyastha, Kolkata, bdnews24.com
Published: 12 Sep 2013 15:09 BdST Updated: 12 Sep 2013 15:09 BdST
Indian Railways has drawn an ambitious plan to connect the countrys north-east region with neighbouring Bangladesh and Myanmar.
North East Frontier Railway, one of the 16 zones of the Indian Railways, which oversee the railway operation in the remote northeast, has already prepared a master plan for the projects.
The project will be in addition to the proposed railway link between Agartala in India with Akhaura in Bangladesh as per the bilateral agreements during the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh visit to Dhaka in 2011.
According to NFR officials, formalities have been completed for issuing work order to Ircon International Ltd to lay the railway tracks between Agartala and Akhaura.
The new proposal is to link Belonia in Tripura with Bangladeshs port city of Chittagong.
A top NFR official at its headquarters in Maligaon, Guwahati told the bdnews24.com that funds have already been sanctioned for a feasibility study.
This is as part of the governments decision to increase connectivity and trade with neighbouring countries, particularly Bangladesh.
Not only is trade between the two countries increasing, more and more Indian companies are showing keen interest to invest in various segments and joint sector ventures in Bangladesh," Indian high commissioner to Dhaka Pankaj Saran had told media while visiting India-Bangladesh check post at Akhura on Wednesday.
The further growth of bilateral trade would require better connectivity, particularly through rail-links, says Bijoy Gupta of Assam Chamber of Commerce.
Bangladesh had exported goods worth $562 million to India in the last fiscal (2012-13).
The NFR official said a similar feasibility study of a proposed railway projects connecting Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Meghalaya, Tripura and Mizoram with Myanmar has already started.
According to the plan, a 252-km railway track would be laid between Jawharnagar, the headquarters of Dhalai district in Tripura, and Darlong city of Myanmar through Kolasib in Mizoram.
"In the first phase, survey of the 109-km railway line between Jawharnagar and Kolashib has already started. In the next-phase the remaining 148-km track, between Kolasib and Darlong, will be surveyed. If all goes well, track-laying would begin in the next few years," the official said.
Survey of the route from Jiribam to Moreh and then to Tamu in Myanmar via Imphal is expected to be completed by next March, he said, adding survey for the route connecting Aizawl and Myanmar from Sairang covering 226 km has already started.
