Question : Rail Link from NE to Bangladesh

(a) the details of the Government plans to link Agartala to Akhauah (Bangladesh) and other places in Tripura to Bangladesh via rail lines;

(b) whether these rail lines will cater to passenger trains or goods trains only and if so, the details thereof;

(c) the distance between Chittagong Port and Tripura via rail after the projects are completed;

(d) the distance between Kolkata and Agartala via rail after the project is complete and the current distance via rail between the two stations; and

(e) the details of the current status of the project and the progress made thereon?

MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF RAILWAYS
(SHRI MANOJ SINHA)

(a) to (e): A Statement is laid on the Table of the House.

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STATEMENT REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO PARTS (a) TO (e) OF UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 2966 BY SHRIMATI ARPITA GHOSH AND SHRI PREM DAS RAI TO BE ANSWERED IN LOK SABHA ON 16.12.2015 REGARDING RAIL LINK FROM NE TO BANGLADESH

(a) & (b): Agartala to Akhaura (15 Km) project was sanctioned & included in Railway Budget 2012-13 with funding of Indian portion of project (5 Km) by DoNER and of the Bangladesh portion (10 Km) by Ministry of External Affairs. As per the MoU signed between Government of India and Government of Bangladesh, Indian Railways is responsible for the construction of the Indian portion and Bangladesh Railway is responsible for the construction of the Bangladesh portion of the project. Execution of Indian portion of the project has been entrusted to IRCON. The present cost of this project is ` 967.85 crores with cost of Bangladesh portion as ` 387.85 crores and Indian portion as ` 580.00 crores. This line will cater to passengers as well as goods traffic.

(c): After completion of this project, distance via rail between Agartala and Chittagong will be about 200 Km.

(d): The distance between Kolkata and Agartala will also get reduced to about 460 Km (via Dhaka) from the present distance of 1581 Km (via Guwahati, Lumding).

(e): Final Location Survey for Indian portion has been completed. However, project is at standstill as DoNER has expressed inability to fund the Indian portion of the project and due to huge throwforward of ongoing projects and limited availability of funds for new line, Ministry of Railways is unable to take up this project through the GBS.

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