Silchar–Sabroom section

Silchar–Sabroom section
Overview
Status Partially Operational
Locale Assam, Tripura
Termini Silchar
Sabroom
Operation
Opened 1997
Owner Indian Railway
Operator(s) Northeast Frontier Railway
Technical
Line length 257 km (160 mi)
Number of tracks 1
Track gauge 1,000 mm (3 ft 3 38 in) metre gauge
Electrification Not electrified / Diesel operated

The Silchar–Sabroom section is a metre-gauge railway line connecting Silchar in Assam and Agartala in Tripura, India. Among the overall 382-kilometre (237 mi) long railway only 257-kilometre (160 mi) are currently operational. The tracks in the operational section is being converted to 1,676 mm (5 ft 6 in) Broad gauge. In the Agartala-Udaipur part of the section, broad gauge track laying process are under way. Track laying on the remaining part of the section will be initiated on commissioning the broad gauge Agartala-Udaipur section. The entire section is under the jurisdiction of Northeast Frontier Railway.

History

Railway service was established in Tripura in 1964,[1] but it was limited to Dharmanagar and Kailasahar. 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 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.

Broad gauge

The railway tracks from Silchar to Kumarghat is being upgraded from metre gauge to broad gauge. Section from Kumarghat to Agartala was expected to be completed within three months on initiating the process as provisions are made for conversion while laying the track.

Proposed projects

The track is expected to be extended from Agartala to Akhaura in Bangladesh, as agreed by the prime ministers of the both countries. The Agartala-Sabroom section is also expected to be extended to Chittagong port which is 75 km form the India-Bangladesh border. In this section the track laying process is nearly completed up to Udaipur, with the exception of a few kilometers due to a land dispute.

References

  1. "Agartala now on India's rail map". iGovernment › Infrastructure. igovernment.in. Retrieved 12 April 2013.
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