The Akhaura-Agartala rail line, a new rail route between Bangladesh and India, was inaugurated on 1 November 2023 by the heads of government of the two countries, but train movement on the line has not yet started.

Trains are supposed to move between Gangasagar railway station in Akhaura, Brahmanbaria in Bangladesh and Nishchintapur railway station in Agartala, Tripura in India. Initially, freight trains will be able to move using the line between these two points, but passenger train movement to destinations beyond them is not likely to be possible soon due to the lack of a broad gauge line in Bangladesh, said relevant sources.

 On condition of anonymity, an official of the Akhaura-Agartala railway project told the Daily Sun, “No work of the project is incomplete. It has been inaugurated. The trial run is also completed. Now fixing a time to start train movement is a matter of decision of the two countries’ governments.”

 Officials at the project site told the Daily Sun that the Bangladesh part of the project has been completed, but a number of things under its Indian part are yet to be completed. Some small works, including the construction of the immigration buildings of the two countries, are going on. Besides, some issues related to customs have not been finalised yet.

Md Quamrul Ahsan, director general of Bangladesh Railway who retired on Tuesday, told the Daily Sun, “Train movement through the Akhaura-Agartala rail line will start soon. However, the two countries have to make some decisions before starting train operations on the line. There are also procedural issues. Initially, freight trains might run on the line.”

According to project sources, 6.78 km of dual gauge rail line of the 12.24 km rail link project is in Bangladesh and 5.46 km is in Tripura state of India. The cost of implementing the project is around Tk477.81 crore. Out of this, the financing by the Bangladesh government is Tk575 crore and the Indian loan is Tk420.76 crore.

Lack of broad gauge line bars passenger train movement

The Akhaura-Agartala rail link would have benefited Bangladeshi and Indian passengers immensely if passenger trains could move beyond Akhaura in Brahmanbaria, Bangladesh and Agartala in Tripura, India.

It would save the time to travel from Agartala to Kolkata by one-third if the trains went through Bangladesh.

However, passenger train movement through this rail route is not likely to start soon as a significant portion of rail lines in Bangladesh is in metre gauge while all the rail lines in India have been converted to broad gauge, said sources.

A 97 km stretch of rail line from Akhaura to Tongi is still metre gauge. Until that route is converted into a broad gauge line, it will not be possible to go directly from Agartala to Kolkata through Bangladesh.

Md Hadiuzzaman, a transport expert and professor of the civil engineering department at Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET), told the Daily Sun, “Such problems persist due to lack of proper planning. There are no metre gauge lines anywhere in India; all lines there have been converted to broad gauge. As a result, Bangladesh will not benefit much from metre gauge connectivity with them.”

Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the Akhaura-Agartala railway project through a video conference on 10 September 2018. Initially, the duration of the project was 18 months.

After extending the project implementation period five times due to various reasons including the Covid-19 pandemic, the railway was inaugurated on 1 November 2023. The project will end in June 2024.