Union Minister Pratima Bhoumik announced on Saturday that Tripura is soon to receive its first Vande Bharat Express, a high-speed train service designed for medium distances. The Northeastern Frontier Railway is currently engaged in electrifying the tracks to facilitate this initiative.
Efforts by the North East Frontier Railway (NFR) are underway to electrify the railway network spanning from Dharmanagar to Agartala. The completion of this electrification project is anticipated by June or July.
Agartala to Guwahati in 5 hours
Once the Vande Bharat is extended up to Agartala after the electrification work is completed, it will take passengers four to five hours to reach Guwahati from Agartala, Bhoumik said at an election rally at Dhanpur.
In his speech, Bhoumik said that the previous governments took 44 years to bring a train from Dharmanagar, which serves as an entry point to Tripura, to Churaibari, adding that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has taken “only two years to take the broad gauge railway service up to Agartala”. “The train service has been made available up to Sabroom by 2020,” he added. Sabroom is situated in the southern part of the state.
Bhoumik revealed that a meeting was held with Union Railways Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw concerning railway developments in the northeastern states. It was disclosed that the electrification work up to Agartala is slated for completion by June or July. Upon the conclusion of electrification, the Vande Bharat Express will be extended to Agartala, significantly reducing travel time for Tripura residents to reach Guwahati within four to five hours. Currently, the journey between the two destinations by train takes 12 hours.
(With PTI inputs)