Union Minister of State for Railways Manoj Sinha received the first broad-gauge train on trial run between Badarpur-Kumarghar-Agartala section at Agartala today. The city will be the second – next to Guwahati in the North East region – to have broad-gauge rail connectivity by next March.<br/><br/>Union Minister Shri Sinha received the train in Agartala station by pressing a lever to set off a signal. The train comprised of one locomotive and six coaches.<br/><br/>Thousands of people present in the function to witness the historic moment. Addressing the gathering Union Minister Shri Sinha categorically said boosting of rail connectivity in the Northeast region is one of the topmost concern for the Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Shri Sinha said the Government is committed to connection of all state capitals of the region by BG railway netwok within 2020. He said since the time had the Agartala new line project been declared as the National Project by the then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, adequate fund flow came to be made available. He said inspection of safety will be completed by next March and passenger trains would start plying thereafter. He also assured that the section upto Sabroom, southern-most city of the state would be connected by BG track by March 2017.<br/><br/> Badal Chowdhury, state Health and Family Welfare and PWD Minister, State Power and Transport Minister Manik Dey, Member of Parliament Shankar Prasad Dutta were also present in the function. Both the Ministers Shri Chodhury and Shri Dey while addressing the crowd thanked the railways for having fulfilled the aspirations of the people of the state. Amongst others, Shri H. K. Jaggi, General Manager of NF Railway and other Railway officials were present in the function. <br/><br/>Tripura found place in railway map in 1964 with meter gauge service linking Dharmanagar, northern town of the State. Agartala was linked by railway in 2008 with the extension of meter gauge link from Dharmanagar and Kumarghat points.<br/><br/> This new broad-gauge line is an extension project starting from Badarpur of Barak Valley of Assam. In two railway sections, the project covering a length of 118 km under Badarpur-Kumarghat and 109 km under Kumarhat-Agartala sections, cost 6300 crore rupees and 1451 crore rupees, railway officials said.<br/><br/> In a separate function at Agartala on Tuesday, Shri Sinha said land acquisition for laying the track of Agartala-Akhaura railway project has been completed. Most likely the fund will be sanctioned in the coming fiscal. He further said, the Prime Minister's Office is directly supervising the new India-Bangladesh railway project along Tripura.<br/><br/> The Union government had earlier announced that it would bear the cost estimated at 369 crore rupees of this 15-km railway project. Of this, 5 km fall in the Indian Territory and the remaining in Bangladesh.