Akhua-Agartala Rail Link

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Information Ministry of External Affairs has come up with Akhua-Agartala Rail Link with a ticket size of 270.19 INR Crores. This project in Railway Track sub-sector involves The current status of the project is Notice to Proceed and is being developed through the EPC route. Economic/Social Impact of the Project Brief on Akhaura-Agartala Rail Link in Bangladesh This is a cross-border rail connectivity project to connect the existing station of Agartala in India to the Gangasagar station in Bangladesh. Gangasagar falls on the Dhaka-Chittagong railway line of the Bangladesh Railways. This project is envisaged to provide an alternative transit route for goods bound for NE states of India from the mainland. India agreed to fund the construction of Akhaura-Agartala rail link under grant assistance during the visit of Prime Minister of Bangladesh to India in January 2010. ?. The MOU for the Rail link was signed on 16 February 2013 under which Indian Railways will be responsible for the construction of the Indian portion of the railway line and Bangladesh will be responsible for the construction of the Bangladesh portion of the rail line. The Project was approved on 21.07.2016 by the Department of Expenditure, Ministry of Finance, GOI at a cost of Rs. 972.52 Cr plus taxes. Foundation stone laid jointly by Honble PMs of India and Bangladesh on 10.09.2018. Rs. 580 crore for Indian Portion [being funded by Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region [DONER]- revised cost estimate under approval of M/o DoNER Rs. 392.52 crore for Bangladesh Portion [including PMC charges, land cost, preliminary charges etc.] being funded by Ministry of External Affairs as Grant in aid. The total route length of the proposed alignment is 12.031 km and it lies to the south of the cities of Akhaura and Agartala, 5.453 Km of the proposed rail link is in India and 6.578 Km is in Bangladesh. Originally, the project was planned between Agartala [India] and Akhaura [Bangladesh] as a 15.094 km long rail line, out which 5.46 Km was planned to be in India and 9.604 km in Bangladesh. However, on the request of the Government of Bangladesh, this line was curtailed at Gangasagar [Bangladesh], without operationally or functionally affecting the planned movement of trains on this line. All the 54.98 acres of land for the Project in Bangladesh has been acquired and handed over to Contractor by Bangladesh Railways between 04.06.2018 to 07.06.2018.