New rail projects in North East connecting to Bangladesh, Myanmar

Guwahati, Sept 13: Now some good news for the seven sister states post the Assembly

. Among many developments that the state is taking up, railway connectivity is also an important project that got sanction this year.

The Northeast Frontier Railway (NFR) has prepared a masterplan to establish railway connectivity between the northeastern states, Bangladesh and Myanmar. According to NFR chief engineer (construction) Harpal Singh, a survey of one of the proposed railway projects connecting Tripura, Mizoram, Manipur, Nagaland, Arunachal Pradesh and Myanmar has already begun, reported TOI.

He said, according to the plan sanctioned by the Indian Railways, a 252-km railway track would be laid between Jawharnagar, the headquarters of Dhalai district in Tripura, and Darlong city of Myanmar through Kolasib, a town in Mizoram. "Survey of the 109-km railway line between Jawharnagar and Kolashib has started and the rest 148-km track, between Kolasib and Darlong, will be surveyed in the next phase. If all goes well, track-laying would begin in the next few years," said Singh.

Railway authorities have also sanctioned funds for a feasibility study of a link between Belonia in Tripura and Chittagong in Bangladesh.

Two more short distance routes are being considered. One of them would be a 80-km track connecting Panisagar in Tripura to Simanapur in Mizoram, while another would be a 45-km track connecting Patharkandhi in Assam to Kanmun in Mizoram, Singh added.

NFR is all set to issue work order to Ircon International Ltd to lay the railway tracks linking Agartala with Akhaura of Bangladesh, as per the bilateral agreements during the last visit of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to Dhaka, Singh said. But out of this, how much will be finished in how much time, only time will tell.

OneIndia News