Indian Railways Eyes Bangladesh Link

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AGARTALA, INDIA (GaeaTimes.com)- The Indian Railways is going to open more rail links with neighboring Bangladesh as its officials said. The railway has plans to expand rail link through two more places along the border to Bangladesh. One of the places is Sabroom located in Southern Tripura and Akhaurah. The latter is only 6 km away from Agartala railway station. Bangladesh runs regular train services in its territory up to Akhaurah and in other towns adjacent to Tripura.

The officials of the Indian Railway Construction Company or IRCON recently made a trip to Bangladesh and they discussed the feasibility of setting up rail links with the country with the government there. The Agartala-Akhaurah link will comprise of 13 kms. Vipin Jha the additional general manager of Northeast Frontier Railway confirmed he developments. Around 5.4 km of the proposed rail link is in the territory of India while the rest falls in the territory of Bangladesh. A survey was done way back in 1999 to set up rail link between the two nations through the proposed path.

The Indian Railways is of the opinion that with the new links with Bangladesh the commerce between the two countries will see a boost. As of now there is a link between Dhaka and Kolkata that is spread over a 406 km route. The new links may be completed within 2014, as the senior railways officials are expecting. However, with rising issues of cross border smuggling going up the railways will have to ensure that proper security level is maintained at the borders. The government is also hopeful it will strengthen the bond with Bangladesh.