GUWAHATI: The Union Minister of State for Railways, Rajen Gohain on Saturday flagged off 20501/20502 Agartala – New Delhi (Anand Vihar) Rajdhani Express at Agartala Railway Station thereby making Agartala the 3rd Northeastern capital city to be connected to National Capital.
Gohain said that since the BJP-led government took charge at the Centre three years ago, the Northeastern region had been given special attention and at present a number of railway construction works were being undertaken simultaneously in the entire Northeast.
He said, funds were never a constraint for realising developmental works in the region and the Central Government believes in a holistic approach for development which is not narrowed down by region-specific consideration.
Gohain said, among all the north-eastern states Tripura got best of rail connectivity under the current government. He also said that he had intervened personally to provide the shortest possible route for the new Rajdhani Express so that the people of the state get faster connectivity with the national capital.
The new Rajdhani Express train will leave Agartala at 18.30 hours on every Monday and reach Anand Vihar (New Delhi) at 11.20 hours on Wednesday. During the return journey, the train will leave Anand Vihar at 19.50 hours of Wednesday to reach Agartala at 12.30 hours of Friday. The train will cover a distance of about 2457 km in about 41 hours.
The train will have 01 First-Class AC coach, 02 Two-Tier AC coaches and 08 Three-Tier AC coaches besides one Pantry Car and two Generator-cum-luggage vans. The train will have Flexi-Fare in AC 2 Tier and AC 3 Tier. The train will have commercial stoppages at Dharmanagar, Badarpur, New Halflong, Hojai, Guwahati, Kamakhya, Rangiya, Barpeta Road, New Jalpaiguri, Katihar, Barauni, Patliputra, Mughal Sarai and Kanpur. Commercial stoppages would be also provided at New Karimganj after completion of certain formalities very soon.
It may be mentioned that, Agartala, the capital of Tripura, became the third NE state capital to be connected with BG railway line in 2016. The first-ever BG express train connecting Agartala with New Delhi was flagged off on 31-07-2016.