AGARTALA, April 14 (TIWN):Union Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu on Monday chaired a high level meeting to review the work progress of BG conversion of track at north east states.The meeting was attended by senior officials of North East Frontier Railway(NEFR).Rajbeer Singh, a senior engineer of NEFR stationed in Tripura said the union minister specially wanted to know about the progress of work from Badarpur – Agatala - Udaipur line.

In the meeting it was informed that in 2016 broad gauge  passenger  train will enter Agartala. Besides he also inquired about the status of Agartala – Akahura track.

The Minister of Railways  Suresh  Prabhu inaugurated Lumding-Silchar broad gauge section (Assam) by flagging off a goods  on March 27 last.The passenger train services will be started soon on this section. This is a landmark achievement by Indian Railways and important broad gauge railway connectivity project. Lumding-Silchar section is Phase-1 of the two phase broad gauge line project in this area.
This will also ensure movement of essential commodities like foodgrain, fertilizers and petroleum products in this area. Indian Railway is committed to the development of railway connectivity in the north eastern region. He informed that Recently Meghalaya was brought on railway map for the first time and also capital of Arunachal Pradesh was connected.  

The 210 kms. long  Lumding – Silchar Railway Line is life line for Barak Valley and the States of Tripura, Manipur and Mizoram. These States are dependent on this line for supply of foodgrains, fertilizers, Petroleum products etc. After Gauge Conversion of Guwahati – Lumding line in 1994, the transhipment point got shifted from Guwahati to Lumding.  The Lumding-Silchar Gauge Conversion Project under the Northeast Frontier Railway was sanctioned in 1996-97 and was declared as a National Project in 2004. In the initial years of the project the flow of funds had been very meager and allotments increased from 2004. The project was hit by insurgency during the years 2006 to 2009 and Territorial Army had to be deployed in the region to curb the insurgency. Normal working could be started only after 2009.