Agartala railway station

Agartala railway station
Indian Railway Station Regional rail, Light rail
Front view of Agartala Railway Station
Location	Badharghat, West Tripura Tripura  India
Coordinates	23°47′34″N 91°16′42″E / 23.79278°N 91.27833°E / 23.79278; 91.27833Coordinates: 23°47′34″N 91°16′42″E / 23.79278°N 91.27833°E / 23.79278; 91.27833
Elevation	25 m (82 ft)
Owned by	Indian Railways
Operated by	Northeast Frontier Railway
Line(s)	Lumding–Sabroom section
Platforms	3
Tracks	10[1]
Connections	Auto Rickshaw, Bus
Construction
Structure type	Standard (on ground station)
Parking	Available
Other information
Status	Functioning, Multiple Diesel-Line
Station code	AGTL
Zone(s)	Northeast Frontier Railway zone
Division(s)	Lumding
History
Opened	2008 (2008)
Rebuilt	2016 (2016)
Electrified	No
Traffic
Passengers	10,000 (approx)
Services
Preceding station   Indian Railways   Following station Shekerkot Northeast Frontier Railway zone Lumding–Sabroom section Jogendranagar
Location
Agartala railway station Location in Tripura

Agartala railway station is located 5.5 km (2.96 nautical miles) from Agartala in Tripura, India. It is the second capital city (after Guwahati, Assam) in Northeast India to be connected to the country's railway map, moreover Agartala is the first state capital of independent India to be connected with a rail network.^[2] Before 2015 the 413-kilometre (257 mi) route was connected to Lumding with a meter gauge track, but after the gauge conversion in 2016, the track connected directly to Guwahati and the rest of India.

From Agartala an under-construction track has been on the way for a connection towards the extreme Southern end point of the state at Sabroom. There are a total of 21 constructed stations and few under-construction stations in the state, with Churaibari being the last one through the Northern side and Udaipur (functioning & completed till now) to the Southern side. The total length of track from the capital towards the North region's last station is approx. 153 km (95 mi), after which the territory of Assam starts. There are a lot of transportation modes available to reach the city from the station.

History

Trains first reached Tripura in 1964^[3] when the railway was extended to the state's northern business hub, Dharmanagar. Later it was extended further to Kumarghat. The northeastern state capital came on India's railmap with the advent of the railways in the subcontinent in 1853. The foundation stone of the 119 km (74-mile) Kumarghat-Agartala railway project was laid in 1996 by the former Prime Minister H. D. Deve Gowda, and during the laying of rail lines, provisions were kept for swiftly converting it to broad gauge. 40 years time was taken by the Government since then to connect Agartala by rail.

Construction

A corner view of the station

The NFR had spent Rs 900 crore ($190 million) to connect Agartala by rail by making three tunnels through the Longtharai Valley, Baramura and Atharamura Hills in Dhalai and West Tripura districts. The 1,962-metre (6,437 ft) Longtharai tunnel is the longest railway tunnel in eastern India.^[4] The architecture of the station resembles Ujjayanta Palace.

Broad-gauge

Agartala was scheduled to get broad gauge facility by March 2016. Works for conversion in BG from a small meter gauge track from Lumding to Silchar in Assam was completed in March 2015 Freight services to Agartala had already resumed by then. It was 31 July 2016 when Suresh Prabhu the then Railway Minister of India inaugurated the Agartala-New Delhi ‘Tripura Sundari Express’,^[6] linking the broad gauge with the rest of the country. On 28 October 2017 Rajdhani Express was inaugurated from Agartala to Anand Vihar Terminal.

Train services

One express train till 30 September 2014 used to run between Lumding and Agartala daily. The meter gauge track is converted to broad gauge and hence this service got terminated.

The NFR had suspended train services from Lumding to Silchar, Bhairavi (Mizoram), Badarpur and Agartala routes for gauge conversion work. The mega block activity between Lumding and Silchar was in its first phase. In the second phase, the work was between Badarpur and Agartala, scheduled from October 2015 for another six months. when finally the BG came in action

While announcing suspension of train services from Lumding to Silchar and Agartala from Sunday(28th Sept 2014), the NFR had run a special pair trains between Karimganj and Agartala from 1 October. The NFR general manager (operation) issued a notification wherein he stated that a special pair of passenger trains will run between Agartala and Karimganj.

Union Minister of State for Railways, Rajen Gohain on Saturday, 28 October 2017 flagged off Agartala – New Delhi (Anand Vihar) Rajdhani Express which made Agartala Railway Station the third North eastern Capital city to be connected to the National Capital.^[7]

On January 5, 2017, Tripura’s capital city, Agartala, was linked with Karnataka’s capital Bengaluru by "Humsafar Express”. With the introduction of this train service, it becomes the second city in the Northeast to get a newly introduced train, equipped with modern facilities.

The following trains runs through the capital station (as of 2018)^[8]

Link with Bangladesh

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's Dhaka visit in January 2010 brought a golden moment for both the nation, India and Bangladesh both countries had agreed to set up a second railway link between the two countries through Agartala.^[9] Government of Bangladesh and Government of India signed a Memorandum of Understanding MoU in 21 May 2013 for linking Agartala and Akhaura railway stations to connect Bangladesh Railway with the north eastern states.^[10] The total length of the track will be 15.054 km, of which only 5 km falls in Indian side and the rest is in Bangladesh. The tracks would be laid in Meter gauge on broad gauge format so that it could be converted into broad gauge when necessary.^[11] The project is funded by India and is expected to cost around Rs 271 crore. The External Affairs Ministry had called a meeting of the fourth inter-ministerial steering committee, officials of the Railway Board and other ministries to discuss the pending issues of Agartala-Akhaura railway line project on 29 October 2014.^[12]

References

External links

• Indian Railways site
• Indian railway fan club