Tripura is emerging as a key transit corridor with the recent opening of the much-awaited Agartala-Akhaura cross-border rail link. In July 2020, the successful trial run of the transhipment of Indian goods from Kolkata to Agartala via Chittagong was completed. The Government of India (GoI) has stepped up efforts to develop the border state’s transport infrastructure by connecting Tripura’s capital, Agartala, with other states both within and outside the northeast as well as neighbouring Bangladesh through roadways, railways and airways.
The Agartala-Akhaura rail route, a part of the Trans-Asian Railway, was inaugurated by the Prime Ministers of India and Bangladesh on November 1, 2023. Both governments have decided to run only goods trains in the initial phase. As per reports, after the completion of the trial for passenger service, full-fledged rail routes between Agartala-Akhaura and Agartala-Chittagong are expected to begin. The Agartala-Akhaura rail route connects Bangladesh’s Gangasagar station on the Dhaka-Chittagong railway network to Nishchintapur station in Tripura. Akhaura is a sub-district in the Brahmanbaria district of Bangladesh.
The 15.064 km railway line (5.05 in India and 10.014 in Bangladesh) connects Akhaura through an international immigration station at Nishchintapur (on the outskirts of Agartala), which is a dual-gauge station for both passengers and goods interchange between the two South Asian countries. The cross-border railway project has been implemented under a GoI grant assistance of Rs 392.52 crore extended to Bangladesh. The Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs has recently declared Nishchintapur railway station as a Land Custom Station (LCS).
The new India-Bangladesh rail route will boost tourism, bilateral trade and commerce, and people-to-people ties between the two neighbouring countries. By bypassing Guwahati and travelling via Dhaka, the rail link will reduce travel time between Agartala and Kolkata from 31 hours to 10 hours and the distance would come down to 550 km from 1,600 km.
The cross-border rail link will also facilitate Bangladesh’s access to northeast India’s market and transit of commodities. Tripura is surrounded by Bangladesh from three sides. The state’s only road and rail links with the rest of the country are through Assam’s Karimganj district and a narrow strip of land in West Bengal’s Siliguri region. Therefore, the new railway link connecting the eastern region of Bangladesh with the northeastern part of India is a major breakthrough for land-locked Tripura, which will be a big gainer in terms of trade and commerce.
The opening of the cross-border rail link will assist in the expansion of small-scale industries along the India-Bangladesh border and boost tourism in the northeast. It will also facilitate the export and import of commodities faster and help the local producers to export their products outside the country. The people of Tripura, who enjoy historic, cultural and commercial ties with neighbouring Bangladesh, believe that the international rail connectivity will be a game changer for the state. Tripura’s Chief Minister Manik Saha said the opening of the Agartala-Akhaura rail route will make the state the gateway for tourism and transport.
In another major boost to Tripura’s transport infrastructure development, the Maitree Setu (Friendship Bridge) over the Feni River connecting the southern border town Sabroom with Ramgarh in Bangladesh was opened for traffic on September 9, 2023.
Earlier, on March 8, 2021, while inaugurating the landmark bridge through video conferencing, India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi noted that several connectivity projects have been initiated to develop the northeast as a trade corridor between India and Bangladesh. The PM emphasised that rail, road and water connectivity projects, which have been implemented in recent years, have been strengthened by this bridge. This will improve connectivity of South Assam, Mizoram, Manipur and Tripura with Bangladesh and South East Asia. He added that the bridge will also provide an impetus to economic opportunities in Bangladesh.
A link road has been built to connect the bridge with the National Highway (NH) 44 at Sabroom which further connects to Baraiyaghat-Magarcheri Road (in Bangladesh) across the Feni River. The bridge project’s foundation stone was jointly laid by the prime ministers of India and Bangladesh in June 2015. The construction was taken up by the National Highways and Infrastructure Development Corporation Limited (NHIDCL) for Rs 133 crore. The bridge project was awarded to a private firm by the NHIDCL at an estimated cost of Rs 82.57 crore. India has also extended financial assistance for a road from Ramgarh to Chittagong in Bangladesh to facilitate cargo movement between the neighbouring country’s largest seaport and the east.
The 1.9 km-long bridge is being built to facilitate the transportation of heavy machines and goods to the northeast through Bangladesh. The costs of the bridge and approach roads to it in Tripura and Bangladesh have been borne by India. The Friendship Bridge is expected to open up new avenues of trade and communication between India’s northeast and neighbouring Bangladesh and South East Asia. Sabroom is just 75 km from Chittagong. The GoI has also built an Integrated Check Post (ICP) at Sabroom along with the bridge to enhance cross-border interactions. The ICP at Sabroom will work like a full-fledged logistic hub with warehouses and container transhipment facilities. Experts maintain that the proposed special economic zone (SEZ) at Sabroom, the first of its kind in Tripura, has the potential to make the commercial hub of northeast.
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According to reports, work is on to set up an immigration counter at the bridge to facilitate cross-border movement of people. The bridge will ease travel from the south-eastern districts of Chittagong Hill Tract (CHT) areas and Cox’s Bazar, to India via Tripura. Moreover, it will help the movement of international cargo originating from the Chittagong seaport. Efforts are also underway to connect Chittagong seaport with the northeast through an alternative route via the Feni River. In their bids to further enhance cross-border connectivity, India and Bangladesh have been engaged in talks to access Chittagong Port from Sutarkandi in Assam, which is a functional ICP in the northeast, via Sylhet as an alternate route to Chittagong.
The author is an Assam-based independent public and foreign policy analyst.
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