Officials here today said the Northeast Frontier Railway (NFR) had already started the tracks laying work between Udaipur and Sabroom and targeted to complete the project by 2013 while by that time Tripura has requested the Manmohan Singh government to provide fund for expansion of connectivity upto Chittagong port as an alternative cost effective route.
The Indian Railway Construction Company has already finalised alignment of the 13-km Agartala-Akhaura railway track to establish connectivity with the Bangladesh railway network and India has agreed to fund for construction work of 5.4 km area in Indian territory.
Tripura wants construction of a rail link to Chittagong from Agartala through Udaipur, enabling the landlocked state to transport its cargo through Bangladesh's largest sea port.
''Tripura has been demanding railway line up to Sabroom so that cargo can be transported to the Chittagong port and strengthening of surface transport link, construction of a reinforced concrete bridge over the Feni river on the Indo-Bangladesh border at a cost of Rs five crore which can be afforded by the state government,'' officials said.
Tripura Commerce Minister Jitendra Choudhury said once rail line up to Sabroom is completed; the new line would open direct link between the Northeastern states and the Chittagong port and added, ''If the line can be laid, our state can certainly convert the situation to its advantage. Agartala will become the gateway to South East Asia.''
Meanwhile, NFR has suspended Badarpur-Lumding railway service following security threat in the hill section over past few days and as a result, railway link with Tripura and South Assam to the national network has been disrupted again.
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