Title - Rail route from northeast to Bangla, Myanmar

AGARTALA: The Northeast Frontier Railway (NFR) has prepared a masterplan to establish railway connectivity between the northeastern states, Bangladesh and Myammar.

According to NFR chief engineer (construction) Harpal Singh, a survey of one of the proposed railway projects connecting Tripura, Mizoram, Manipur, Nagaland, Arunachal Pradesh and Myanmar has already begun.

He said, according to the plan sanctioned by the Indian Railways, a 252-km railway track would be laid between Jawharnagar, the headquarters of Dhalai district in Tripura, and Darlong city of Myanmar through Kolasib, a town in Mizoram.

"Survey of the 109-km railway line between Jawharnagar and Kolashib has started and the rest 148-km track, between Kolasib and Darlong, will be surveyed in the next phase. If all goes well, track-laying would begin in the next few years," said Singh.

Survey of the route from Jiribam to Moreh and then to Tamu in Myanmar via Imphal is expected to be completed by next March, said Singh. Survey for the route connecting Aizawl and Myanmar from Sairang covering 226 km has already started, he added.

Railway authorities have also sanctioned funds for a feasibility study of a link between Belonia in Tripura and Chittagong in Bangladesh.

Two more short distance routes are being considered. One of them would be a 80-km track connecting Panisagar in Tripura to Simanapur in Mizoram, while another would be a 45-km track connecting Patharkandhi in Assam to Kanmun in Mizoram, Singh added.

NFR is all set to issue work order to Ircon International Ltd to lay the railway tracks linking Agartala with Akhaura of Bangladesh, as per the bilateral agreements during the last visit of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to Dhaka, Singh said.