Tripura broad gauge on track: Official

Agartala, Dec. 6: The jinxed Lumding-Badarpur broad gauge railway track is expected to reach Agartala by 2013, while the ongoing track laying work up to Sabroom, Tripura’s southernmost town bordering Bangladesh, will be completed by 2014.

Announcing this during an interaction with reporters, the general manager of Northeast Frontier Railway, Keshav Chandra, said the broad gauge track-laying work between Lumding and Badarpur was making rapid progress and would be completed soon. He said by 2013, the broad gauge railway line would be extended up to Agartala.

Chandra arrived here yesterday to inaugurate the railway officers’ guesthouse at Agartala railway station.

“I expect the broad gauge railway line to reach Agartala by December 2013 as rapid progress is being made. The survey for track-laying work up to Udaipur, headquarters of South Tripura district, is on and by 2012, the people of Udaipur will hear the sound of railway carriages rolling into their town. By 2014, Sabroom, Tripura’s southernmost subdivision bordering Bangladesh, will be accessible by railway,” he said.

Chandra is leading a team of high-level officials to Tripura to look into various aspects of railway functioning.

He dismissed the recent trouble over land acquisition in Bishalgarh on way to Udaipur as “not much of a problem” saying all these minor disputes would be settled amicably.

Though official sources in the NF Railway here described the general manager’s visit as the head of officials as “routine visit”, state government officials here said Chandra had come to personally take stock of the situation at the ground level following frequent complaints over the quality of service provided by the railway in Tripura.

He visited a number of stations, including Jirania and Jogendranagar, and the proposed station sites in Badharghat and Udaipur.

During the interaction with the media, Chandra said the obstacles in laying of broad gauge in the hilly section between Lumding and Badarpur had been removed and work was gaining momentum. He appreciated the role of the state government as facilitator in land acquisition and other projects and said this would make the railway’s task “easier and more convenient”.

Chandra and his accompanying officials today met chief secretary S.K. Panda and apprised him of the progress in railway survey for connectivity with Udaipur in South Tripura and Akhaura railway junction in Bangladesh.