It will take another year to complete the Akhaura–Agartala rail link as the implementing agencies have faced hurdles in land acquisition. The original deadline of the project expired on December 17 last year. Now, the authorities concerned expect that it would be finished by December 2018. According to officials of the Bangladesh Railway and Economic Relations Division (ERD), the Akhaura-Agartala railway service will be operational by early 2019. The laying of rail tracks will be completed by December this year.

The Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (ECNEC) approved the construction of the Akhaura-Agartala dual gauge railway link project to improve railway connectivity and boost trade between Bangladesh and India. The rail link will open up the markets of India’s north-eastern states for Bangladesh, ensure smooth transportation of goods, and facilitate people-to-people contact. The connectivity will also lower transportation cost and time.

The railway link may be considered as a corridor of the Trans Asian Railway Network and sub-regional connectivity, according to a railway ministry proposal. Bangladesh and India had agreed to lay the 15.54 km railway link between Akhaura and Agartala during Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's visit to New Delhi in 2010. A stretch of 10.54 km of the track will be on the Bangladesh side and the rest in India. The laying of the railway tracks was to be completed by 2017. About the prospect of the rail link for Bangladesh, former caretaker government Dr AB Mirza Azizul Islam said there is scope to expand the trade with the north eastern states of India due to easy transportation.

However, he said it would depend on how much Bangladesh provide the demand of north eastern states. Though transport is one of the major factor to expand trade, it also depend how mach product the supplier can provide. If Bangladesh side would not get more benefit from this, the north eastern states will be benefited from the rail connectivity with Akhaura-Agartala rail link. Railway sources said 70 acres of land would have to be acquired to build the railway link.

ERD officials said the commissioning of the rail link would benefit India more as Indian businessmen would be able to easily transport goods from Kolkata to Agartala. Moreover, the 1,700-km distance between Agartala and Kolkata would be reduced to only 550 km once the new rail track is linked through Bangladesh.

In October last year, Railway Minister M Mazibul Hoque said work on the Bangladesh portion of the proposed Akhaura-Agartala railway route would begin within the next two to three months. Mentioning that Bangladesh and India had 12 railway routes that were closed after the partition, the minister said there was a plan to reopen them.

Meanwhile, the Bandhan express between Kolkata to Khulna resumed operation in November last year after remaining suspended for 70 years after the partition in 1947. Besides, rail bridges over the Titas and Bhairab rivers had already been inaugurated by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and her Indian counterpart Narendra Modi in November last year.