The broad gauge rail connectivity between Tripura and rest of India, finally brought cheer to thousands of passengers whose decade old demand for a broad gauge railway connectivity was finally fulfilled on May 6, 2016.

A train having 10 general coaches and two luggage-cum-parcel vans with 333 passengers left Silchar for Agartala and a similar train left Agartala for Silchar.

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These two pairs of trial passenger trains ran between Agartala and Silchar on May 2-5 in the newly-laid broad gauge line.

Though the State achieved a freight train connectivity from Tripura to rest of India on February 22, 2016, passenger train connectivity was still awaited.

“One pair of passenger train would run between Silchar and Agartala and these trains would run until May 20," Northeast Frontier Railway (NFR) spokesman Nripendra Bhattacharjee said over phone.

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Due to heavy rains and massive landslides in as many as 14 places in Dima Hasao district (formerly North Cachar Hills district) major trains running between Guwahati and Silchar and beyond have been suspended since April 27.

Once the debris is cleared Passenger train would run from both Agartala and Silchar to Kolkata and other places via Guwahati after getting track clearance certificate.

A proposal for superfast train from Agartala to Kolkota and Delhi is also on the cards as Tripura's members of parliament - Jitendra Chaudhury, Sankar Prasad Datta - met Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu in New Delhi on Wednesday and urged him to start superfast passenger trains from Agartala to Kolkata and Delhi.

The Minister has assured and given a commitment to launch superfast passenger trains from Agartala immediately after May 20.

Connectivity to Tripura till now

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The Guwahati-Silchar railway line is the lifeline for southern Assam connecting land-locked Tripura's capital Agartala and parts of Manipur and Mizoram with the rest of India.

These states are heavily dependent on this railway line for supply of foodgrain, fertilisers, petroleum products, construction materials and other commodities besides carrying of passengers.

The Broad Gauge project

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The 437-km Lumding-Silchar and Badarpur-Agartala gauge conversion work was sanctioned in 1996. It was declared a national project in 2004, thereby ensuring uninterrupted funding from the central government's general budget. The project was hit by insurgency from 2006 to 2009 and work could only gain speed after that turbulent period.

In the first phase, the 210-km Lumding-Silchar gauge conversion project was completed last year.

In the second phase, the 227-km Badarpur-Agartala gauge conversion was scheduled to be completed in March but was completed three months earlier.

With the completion of gauge conversion work right up to Agartala, Tripura’s capital was connected with the country's broad gauge railway network through Guwahati at a distance of about 600 km.

Rail connectivity to improve business in Tripura

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Being landlocked, major business in Tripura was affected. The developed in the State was a challenge because of poor connectivity, thus, under utilizing the abundantly available raw materials in the State.

"Our bamboo potential of this state seems to be underutilized. My contention was that each of the state of the Northeast will have an individual identity of its own so that it is known for something. It's my firm belief that the state of Tripura has huge potential to emerge as the bamboo state of India. Anybody from this state will take pride in the thought that the State be known as bamboo state of India than just a state in the Northeast," said the Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER), MoS PMO.

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It was this reason that prompted the Government to take adequate steps to provide connectivity to rest of India. Thus, Tripura was proposed to be connected by broad gauge rail and taking advantage of its strategic location, the connectivity will be able to improve India's bilateral trade with neighbouring countries under the Act East Policy.

The connectivity will be of huge importance because it will be able to convert and develop Agartala into a major railway junction and it will help in expanding the network in the region not only within Tripura but also outside Tripura.

With the Prime Minister's emphasis on Act East Policy, the rail connectivity project has received further impetus and connectivity is likely with the neighbouring countries also particularly Bangladesh.

Future plans in the region

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Capitals of all states in north-east to be connected by broad-guage rail network by 2020.

In reply to a question whether the government was aware that development of infrastructure and connectivity is the single most important factor to remove regional disparities, the Minister of State for Planning, Statistics and Programme Implementation, Rao Inderjit Singh, said in a written reply in Rajya Sabha, “Rail connectivity has an impact on poverty alleviation. It will bring down prices of essential commodities particularly food grains. All the state capitals of the north- east region will be connected by broad gauge rail network by the year 2020”.