Agartala-Akhaura railway train run held on Bangladesh part

The trial run of a train on the newly constructed Agartala- Akhaura dual gauge railway track was successfully conducted on Thursday by Bangladesh Railway up to Agartala's Nishchintpur railway station. The meter gauge engine with four carriages carrying goods from Gangasagar in Bangladesh reaches Shivnagar on the Indian border at the zero point of Nishchintpur station.

The container train started its journey from Gangasagar in Akhaura, Brahmanbaria  district of Bangladesh and successfully completed the 20-minute journey to  zero point of Nishchintpur  station on the Indian border on Thursday afternoon.

Official sources said that the much ambitious railway connectivity between two neighbouring nations  would be inaugurated soon as the trial train run was successful from Bangladesh.

Sources added that during the trial run, the train moved at a speed of 30 kilometres per hour.

Project director of the Bangladesh section of the Agartala- Akhaura dual gauge railway, Abu Zafar Mia said that the trial run has been completed successfully. "Now the railway is ready for inauguration. However, the opening date is yet to be decided. The opening of the railway will expand trade between India and Bangladesh," he added.

Locomaster Saju Kumar Das, who was excited to run a train on an international route for the first time, said, "I operated a train on the Dhaka-Chattogram route. On the way, I saw the construction work of the Akhaura-Agartala railway. I am very happy to have the responsibility of operating the train on this rail line. It seems like a dream to me."

According to the project officials, in July 2018, the Texmeco Rail and Engineering Limited started the construction of the Agartala- Akhaura  railway. The Bangladesh part of the 12.24 km long railway  and about 6.78 km long railway track constructed at the Indian part connecting with Agartala(Badharghat) railway station. It took more than five years to complete the project due to various crises including the Coronavirus pandemic.

Sarat Sharma, country manager of Texmeco Rail and Engineering Limited, said 98% of the project has been completed.

"Now the finishing work of the Customs and Immigration building is going on. But the railway is fully prepared for the inauguration. Trains can run at a speed of 79 km on this railway. However, since the curve is high, the train may not run at full speed," said Sarat Sharma.