Agartala, Jul 31, 2016 : Amidst soaring hopes and aspirations over end of Tripura's geographical isolation from the mainstream the 'Tripura Sundari Express'-newly named broad gauge train connecting Tripura and Delhi today left Agartala railway station for its forty seven hourlong journey to Anand Vihar railway station near Delhi. Altogether fourteen bogeys of the broad gauge train with two more guard brake vans in the front and rear will speed through sixteen more stations in between Agartala and Anand Vihar across Assam, West Bengal , Bihar and UP. The sixteen stations are Ambassa and Dharmanagar in Tripura, Karimganj, Badarpur, New Halfong , Lumding, Hozai , Jagiroad , Guwahati and New Bongaigaon in Assam, New Jalpaiguri in West Bengal, Katihar, Barauni, Patliputra in Bihar and Mogulsarai , Allahabad and Kanpur central in UP-a distance of nearly 2400 kms altogether.
According to the schedule announced by Northeast Frontier (NF) railway the 'Tripura Sundari Express' will every week leave Anand Bihar railway station near Delhi on Monday at 11-55 in the night and it will leave Agartala every Thursday at 2-00 PM. The journey will take 47 hours on schedule and regular weekly service will commence from August 8. In its notification of the fare chart the NF railway authority said that for journey between Agartala and Anand Vihar a sleeper class ticket will cost Rs 985.00, AC three-tier ticket will cost Rs 2480.00 each while AC two-tier ticket will cost Rs 3565.00 each. All the tickets on 'Tripura Sundari Express's inaugural journey were booked by Saturday evening and even as the train sped out of view a long waiting list of ticket-seekers remained.
A eighteen thousand strong crowd that had gathered at Agartala station on the inaugural programme exulted over the commencement of the broad gauge train journey. Many people including tribals from interior areas had come from subdivisional towns and blocks to witness the beginning of the train service. All the boyes of the 'Tripura Sundari Express' had been made spick and span by the railway staff in the washing pit.
A senior tribal leader of CPI (M) said that the BG tain service would end Tripura's geographical isolation from the mainstream. Shortly after merger with Indian union on October 15 1949 the erstwhile princely Tripura had lost its traditional access to Indian mainstream across Eastern Bengal (now Bangladesh). 'In the fifties the Assam-Agartala national highway-44 had been constructed but that highway still meanders through Assam , Meghalaya and West Bengal for connecting Tripura with Calcutta ; we had long agitated for railway connectivity ; in 1964 Dharmangar in north Tripura got the first railway line on metre gauge and then in different phases in 1986, 1990, 1997 and 2004 the railway line extended upto Kuamrghat and finally in October 2008 the track reached Agartala and a metre gauge train rolled into Agartala station' said the tribal leader. He said that the option for gauge conversion had been kept but during the UPA government there was no progress in gauge upgradation. 'It is a memorable day for us and it will help the economic development of this backward state' said the CPI (M) leader.
According to the schedule announced by Northeast Frontier (NF) railway the 'Tripura Sundari Express' will every week leave Anand Bihar railway station near Delhi on Monday at 11-55 in the night and it will leave Agartala every Thursday at 2-00 PM. The journey will take 47 hours on schedule and regular weekly service will commence from August 8. In its notification of the fare chart the NF railway authority said that for journey between Agartala and Anand Vihar a sleeper class ticket will cost Rs 985.00, AC three-tier ticket will cost Rs 2480.00 each while AC two-tier ticket will cost Rs 3565.00 each. All the tickets on 'Tripura Sundari Express's inaugural journey were booked by Saturday evening and even as the train sped out of view a long waiting list of ticket-seekers remained.
A eighteen thousand strong crowd that had gathered at Agartala station on the inaugural programme exulted over the commencement of the broad gauge train journey. Many people including tribals from interior areas had come from subdivisional towns and blocks to witness the beginning of the train service. All the boyes of the 'Tripura Sundari Express' had been made spick and span by the railway staff in the washing pit.
A senior tribal leader of CPI (M) said that the BG tain service would end Tripura's geographical isolation from the mainstream. Shortly after merger with Indian union on October 15 1949 the erstwhile princely Tripura had lost its traditional access to Indian mainstream across Eastern Bengal (now Bangladesh). 'In the fifties the Assam-Agartala national highway-44 had been constructed but that highway still meanders through Assam , Meghalaya and West Bengal for connecting Tripura with Calcutta ; we had long agitated for railway connectivity ; in 1964 Dharmangar in north Tripura got the first railway line on metre gauge and then in different phases in 1986, 1990, 1997 and 2004 the railway line extended upto Kuamrghat and finally in October 2008 the track reached Agartala and a metre gauge train rolled into Agartala station' said the tribal leader. He said that the option for gauge conversion had been kept but during the UPA government there was no progress in gauge upgradation. 'It is a memorable day for us and it will help the economic development of this backward state' said the CPI (M) leader.
