Want trans-Asian railway link to Myanmar: Tripura CM to Delhi

Agartala

:

Tripura

chief minister Biplab Kumar Deb has written to the Centre to connect the state with Myanmar via Mizoram in an ambitious

trans-Asian

railway network under Act East Policy, transport minister Pranajit

Singha Roy

informed the state assembly on Wednesday.Replying to a call attention motion of government chief whip Kalyani Roy, the minister said the chief minister on February 16 had written a letter to the railway minister proposing to connect Tripura with trans-Asian countries from Jawahar Nagar of Dhalai district to Darlawn in Mizoram (109 km) and Kalay in Myanmar.Singha

Roy

said in June 2020, the Tripura government had sent a proposal to “North East Region Vision 2035” to convert the entire railway track from single to double line and increase the train fleet in the state.The survey work of three new railway projects including Belonia (India)-Feni (Bangladesh) railway (about 30 km), Dharmanagar-Pancharathal-Kailashahar (North Tripura) railway (41.75 km) and connecting Dharmanagar-Belonia (South district) via Kailashahar-Kamalpur-Khowai-Mohanpur (West Tripura) and Agartala Alternative Lines (16.62 km) has recently completed, he said, adding, “We have asked to make provision in this railway budget.”Work on Nishchintapur rail yard, which will connect Akhaura in Bangladesh, is 98% complete and that on Sabroom (South district) rail yard 75%, the minister claimed. “Work on the two rail yard projects is expected to be completed within the next financial year and this will change the economic landscape of the state.”The track-laying work of 12.3-km stretch between Agartala and Akhaura has been going on in full swing aiming to strengthen passenger and freight services through rail between the two countries and is also expected to be completed by the next financial year, he added.Meanwhile, the Tripura government has proposed two new express trains — Agartala-Mumbai and Agartala-Guwahati at least four days a week. At present, six express trainms are operating from Tripura connecting Guwahati, Kolkata, Delhi, Bengaluru, Firojpur (Punjab), Deoghar (Jharkhand), Habibganj (Madhya Pradesh), Silchar (Assam) and Jiribam (Manipur).