DIMAPUR — Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi, and Prime Minister of Bangladesh, Sheikh Hasina, virtually inaugurated the Akhaura-Agartala international connectivity rail line project between India and Bangladesh on Wednesday.
The 12.24 km long railway line (5.46 km in India and 6.78 km in Bangladesh) linked Bangladesh’s Akhaura through an international immigration station at Nischintapur, which would be a dual gauge station for both passenger and goods interchange between India and Bangladesh, stated an update from NFR chief PRO, Sabyasachi De.
Speaking on the occasion, Modi said that both the countries have once again come together to celebrate the success of India-Bangladesh cooperation.
“Bangladesh has been connected to the Northeast for the first time by rail link. This rail link will give a great boost to the tourism sector and will bolster economic development of the Northeast,” Modi said.
It mentioned that Indian Railways is significantly working towards PM’s vision of ‘Act East Policy’ and ‘Neighborhood First Policy’ by executing several new railway line projects connecting the neighbouring countries. It added that construction of the Akhaura- Agartala international connectivity rail line project between India and Bangladesh is one such of the crucial projects.
It stated that the new rail project would boost people-to-people contact between the two countries apart from increasing the trade and commerce. Once fully operational, the new rail line would help grow small scale industries in the border areas and boost tourism of the two countries particularly in Tripura.
It would also help in export and import of commodities faster and help the local producers to export their produces outside the country faster. Goods carrying trains from various parts of India can reach NE region via Bangladesh with much lesser transportation cost, while the travel time between Agartala and Kolkata via Dhaka would get reduced significantly.
