Soon, You Can Travel from Kolkata to Agartala in Just 10 Hours Via Bangladesh as New Rail Route Gets Nod

In a move that will ease travel, those commuting from Kolkata to Agartala can now cover the distance in only 10 hours via Dhaka.

Speaking to News18, Union Minister Pratima Bhowmick said: “We are very excited that by Durga Puja, the rail route will start from Kolkata to Agartala via Bangladesh. One will reach Agartala from Kolkata in just 10 hours. Work is almost complete on this historic endeavour.”

Bhowmick, a central minister from Tripura, has received assurance from Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw that the route connecting Agartala with Kolkata via Bangladesh will be commissioned this year.

As of now, Bangladesh and India have four rail links — Petrapole-Benapole, Gede-Darshana, Radhikapur-Biral and Singhabad-Rohanpur. The new line will make its journey via Akhaura and connect the Dhaka-Chittagong route.

The Akhaura rail line will pass through Bangladesh’s capital Dhaka instead of Assam’s railway link city Guwahati. The distance between the two destinations of Kolkata and Agartala will be reduced to 550 kilometres from 1,600 kilometres.

The 15-kilometer-long Agartala-Akhaura railway line will link Bangladesh’s Akhaura through an international immigration station at Nischintapur along the India-Bangladesh border. With the project’s completion, the travel time between Agartala and Kolkata via Dhaka will be reduced from 31 hours to 10 hours.

The proposal for the Agartala-Akhaura railway project first came in 2010. Three years later, both India and Bangladesh signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for the railway project.

Sources say the top leadership of both India and Bangladesh will be present for the inauguration.

For people who travel frequently between Tripura and Kolkata, the news has spread cheer. Julee Satkar, who has family in both Tripura and Kolkata, said: “This is great news. We can come and go during the weekend. The journey time will be reduced so we can visit our families more frequently.”

Jaba Dasgupta, another resident of Tripura, said: “We are thrilled as everybody cannot afford to go by plane. This route will be historic.”​

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