AGARTALA, Dec 28 (TIWN) : The pending broad-gauge connectivity between Agartala and the Badarpur railway line is likely to be completed well ahead of the schedule, March 31, 2016.

The high speed and urgency with which the "mega block" work on converting metre gauge into broad gauge was executed and completed soon. A motor trolley already has been run on the converted broad-gauge track between Agartala and Kumarghat railway. Today a ballast train, carrying stone blocks and chips, will also run on the tracks between Kumarghat and Agartala.

After the first run, a second run will be made to test the endurance level of the newly laid broad-gauge tracks."This is required to test at ground level the endurance of the broad-gauge tracks laid and it will be followed by movement of goods trains and other technical tests before giving green signal for passenger trains to move on the track between Agartala and Kumarghat," said a highly-placed source in the NFR here.

Sources said the gauge conversion work between Badarpur and Karimganj had been completed earlier and now work between Karimganj and Panisagar is nearing completion.

The running of the ballast train will signal the completion of the work and the full-fledged movement of broad-gauge trains between Agartala and the Lumding junction in Assam across the Barak Valley will commence well ahead of the scheduled date of March 31 next year.

Already, passenger trains are regularly running between Lumding and Silchar, a distance of 210km via Badarpur while the 227-km track between Agartala and Badarpur is also nearly complete.

"Raising hopes of higher mobility and better connectivity, the first engine to Agartala rolled into Agartala station on October 5, 2008 on metre-gauge track. Ever since the state government has been rooting for broad gauge, no initiative was taken during the UPA-II regime, but the NDA government has given a new sense of urgency and priority ," sources said.

They added that railway minister Suresh Prabhu would inaugurate the first broad-gauge train from Agartala to Lumding on a date to be fixed in consultation with the Railway Board but that will happen well ahead of the scheduled date of March 31, 2016