Agartala-Kolkata train from Saturday

AGARTALA: The much awaited passenger train service between

Agartala

and Kolkata will be flagged off on Saturday. The Northeast Frontier Railway (NFR) has extended the

Kanchanjungha Express

to Agartala twice a week.

The train, which runs between Guwahati and Sealdah daily, was extended to Silchar thrice a week a few months ago. The train will leave Agartala station for Sealdah (Kolkata) every Saturday and Tuesday at 5.15 am and is scheduled to reach Guwahati at 8 pm. It will reach Sealdah the following evening.

NFR officials said railway minister Suresh Prabhu gave the nod on Wednesday night and asked to start the service from Saturday. A train with three 3 AC coaches and one sleeper coach has started for Agartala on Thursday to begin its inaugural run on Saturday.

According to schedule, the Agartala-Sealdah Kanchanjungha Express will leave from Agartala at 5.15 am to arrive Sealdah at 9.25 pm the next day. From Sealdah, the train will leave at 6.35 am every Sunday and Thursday to arrive Agartala at 9 pm every Monday and Friday, covering a distance of about 1,556 km.

Though the train will have one 2AC, 4 3AC, six sleeper coaches, four chair car, four general second class compartments and two luggage-cum-parcel vans, the NFR has allotted only one 3AC and one sleeper coach for booking to passengers of Agartala. The train will halt at 38 stations, including Ambasa, Dharmanagar, Karimganj, Badarpur, New Haflong, Lumding, Guwahati, New Bongaigaon, New Coochbehar, New Alipurduar, New Jalpaiguri, Malda Town and Shantiniketan, before reaching Sealdah.

"The NFR has so far spent about Rs 2,016 crore to connect Agartala by rail by making two big tunnels through the

Longtharai Valley

and

Atharamura Hills

and by constructing 233 bridges," said an NFR officials.

The NFR is now laying broad-gauge tracks for the 112-km Agartala-Sabroom line which is expected to be completed by March 2018. Sabroom is southern

Tripura

's border town adjoining Bangladesh. It has also undertaken work to lay a 15-km rail track to connect Agartala with Bangladesh's Akhaura railway station.