AGARTALA, Feb 18 (TIWN): Union Minister on January 24 during Agartala-Udaipur train service inauguration via a video conference told Tripura people that Tripura Sundari Temple is now connected to rest of India and soon it is to be linked with Kamaksha directly as a part of Pilgrimage's destination. However, as a part of NE connectivity's boosting, with a good news the Astha Circuit Train from Kamakhya Railway Station has already kicked off, which can be reached by Tripura’s pilgrimages easily via Guwahati station. However, the service till Kamakhya temple will be extended to Agartala Railway Station soon. Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal and Union Minister of State for Railways Rajen Gohain jointly flagged off Astha Circuit Train from Kamakhya Railway Station already on Friday.

An innovative initiative of NF Railway and Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC), this dedicated tourist train will take travelers to popular pilgrimage destinations starting from Kamakhya for Puri and Bhubaneswar with stoppage at Kolkata.

This six nights and seven days tour from Kamakhya will cost Rs 6,161 per person for the entire trip including breakfast, lunch, dinner, sleeper class accommodation and visit to popular religious destinations, covering Gangasagar, Swamy Narayan Temple, Kalighat, Birla Temple, Jagannath Temple, Konark Temple and Lingaraj Temple.

The Astha Circuit Train will have various boarding stations including Kamakhya, Alipurduar, New Cooch Behar, New Jalpaiguri, Malda, New Farakka, Pakur, Rampurhat, Bolpur and Kolkata. Tourists can avail the services for booking through IRCTC website or through registered e-ticket agents or from any office of IRCTC.
It’s worthy to mention here that Modi Govt’s special initiative to upgrade NE railway is boosting Tripura’s connectivity. Another 1200 crores project is already in hand.

Eventhough, the Union finance minister Arun Jaitley didn’t announce any specific scheme or projects for the north-east in his budget speech but the mood in the region was positive overall. States in the region would likely to get a total of Rs 43,285 crores in 2017-18 and there’s hope that of the 3,500 km of new railway lines commissioned for the coming financial year a sizeable part would be constructed in the region. 

Reportedly, the union government has proposed broad-gauge connectivity to all state capitals in the north-east by 2020 and conversion of entire rail network to broad-gauge in the 2017-18 budget.