BY TC News Desk
Agartala, July 07, 2023: Transport minister Sushanta Chowdhury claimed that a pair of letters had been sent to the union minister railways Ashwini Vaishnaw for conversion of single track railway from Lumding to Sabroom to double track and it is learned that the Ministry of Railways is considering the conversion from single lane to double lane.
In a proposal placed by the BJP MLA Swapna Das Majumder during the budget session of the state assembly on Friday, Chowdhury said “After the formation of the Prime Minister Narendra Modiji-led government at the Centre in 2014, there has been an unprecedented improvement in the connectivity of the North Eastern region, including Tripura. Infrastructural changes have taken place in road, air and rail transport systems. Our state has also rapidly expanded rail services up to Sabroom, which was a dream for the people of Tripura in yesteryears.”
“The latest serum of the state is connected by the broad gauge rail service. A total of 12 long-distance express trains are connecting regularly with foreign countries. There are also cargo train services. The earnestness of the Central Government in developing the communication system of the State has been observed at various times. There has been massive infrastructure development in railway services. Whenever the demand of railway services from the state has been requested to the Union Ministry of Railways, the Ministry of Railways has extended a helping hand in the interest of the people of the state. Incidentally, the Agartala-Akhaura rail link project is nearing completion.”
“A total of 81 (eighty one) thousand tonnes of various commodities have been moved through cargo trains from 8 terminals in Tripura during the last three years. Apart from this, the parcel service is running. At present, the rail track from Lamding to Sarum is on single line, as a result of which most of the trains in the state cannot reach the destination on the scheduled time. For example, when an express train reaches its destination on time at its specified speed, the local train or cargo train has to wait at a station. As a result, passengers cannot reach their destinations on time, resulting in delays. Realizing the matter and in order to improve the train services, the Minister of Transport of the State and later the Chief Minister requested the conversion of single line railway from Lamding to Sabrum to double line in letters dated 6th April, 2022 and 23rd May, 2022 respectively to the Union Minister of Railways. It is said that the Ministry of Railways is considering the conversion from single lane to double lane”, he added.
Presently 12 Express / Special Train Single Lines are running through the track. These are: Agartala – Silchar Express; Agartala – Bengaluru (Humsafar) Express; Agartala – Khungsang Janshatabdi Express; Agartala Secunderabad (Andhra Pradesh) Special; Agartala – Kolkata Special; Agartala – Sealdah (Kanchenjunga Express); Agartala – Rani Kamalapati (Habibganj, Madhya Pradesh) Express; Tripura Sundari Express (Agartala Ferozepur, Punjab), Agartala – Anandbihar (Tejas Rajdhani Express), Agartala – Deoghar Express; Agartala Kolkata Special; and Agartala – Silchar Janshatabdi Express (Summer Special).
In addition to the services described above, the following five DEMUs through the said track / Local Train is running: 1) Agartala Sabroom Demo Special Train (3 Pairs); 2) Agartala – Karimganj Junction Demo Special Train 3) Agartala – Dharmanagar Passenger Train If double track lane is introduced in railway movement, the waiting time of passengers due to rail crossing will be reduced a lot and the speed of train movement will increase. As a result passenger comfort will increase much more than before. Moreover, it will be easier to launch more new passenger and goods train services as per the demands of the state. The field will widen in socio-economic development including tourism in the state.
Moreover, a letter has been sent to the central government to extend one more train service between Agartala and Dharmanagar keeping in view the demand of passengers. The state government is playing a very sincere and energetic role for the development of communication system in Tripura.
