Akhaura-Agartala international rail line: First trial run of goods train completed successfully

The first trial run of a goods train was conducted successfully between Bangladesh and Nischintapur station of Agartala Monday.

The goods train started from the Gangasagar railway station on the Bangladesh side and reached Nischintapur in Agartala in presence of Railway officials of both nations.

 This development came a decade after the two countries signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to start the first Indo-Bangla international railway service between Akhaura (Bangladesh) and Agartala (India).

Speaking with media persons at Nischintapur station, Sunindra Chaudhury, an executive engineer of the Indian Railways, said, “This is the first goods train running on meter gauge entering Nischintapur from Bangladesh. The distance from Gangasagar to here is 8.1 km and the total project length is 12.24 km including 5.46 km on the Indian side and 6.7 km in Bangladesh. Gangasagar is the first station (on the Bangladesh side) that connects India via Nischintapur. The first trial run was successful.”

He said that a six-member team arrived from Bangladesh with this goods train and the long pending project now today completed successfully through trail run. Chaudhury said that soon the meter gauge (MG) good train will start its operation between two nations and passenger train services will also start within a short period after fulfilling some technical formalities.

As per the standard operating procedure, the train would return to Bangladesh after necessary formalities.

Abdur Rahim, the Bangladeshi loco pilot who was in charge of the goods train, said he started from Gangasagar railway station and reached Akhaura railway station with 14-15 people on board including officials and other personnel and with journey of 20 minutes, the train reached at Nischintapur station from Gangasagar station.

Abdur Rahim said the rail route would provide benefits to passengers seeking to visit India or travel to different parts of the country using Agartala’s Maharaja Bir Bikram (MBB) Airport. “This is the first time a train from Bangladesh has entered Tripura's territory and it's a big moment for the people of both nations.

After completion of the Indo-Bangla railway project in Tripura, the travel time between Agartala and Kolkata via Dhaka is estimated to be reduced from 31 hours to 10 hours.