DEVELOPMENT
First track L
ittle Anshuman, a student
of class five, kept his ear
close to the rail track in a
bid to catch an ‘unknown’ noise
amid sounds of approaching joy
and celebration. He kept struck to
the rail, as his ear sensed the slow
rumbling in the track. But before
he could understand what that
sound really was, he was whisked
away by a cop who by then had
heard over his wireless set that it
was approaching.
Anshuman ran straight to the
platform and soon got mingled
in the crowd, which flooded the
Agartala Railway Station to wit-
ness a ‘historic event’. At last
the moment came – a giant rail
engine, overloaded with people,
finally moved into the Agartala
Railway Station, opening a new
chapter in Tripura’s glorious his-
tory. For the thousands of people
who had turned up since early
morning – the long wait was over.
It was not a wait of a day; it was
a wait of decades. For little Ans-
human the joy was some thing
beyond imagination. Holding his
breathe, he shouted, “My Agartala
now has a rail” – Anshuman’s joy
perhaps reverberated in every one
and the happiness was writ large
on every face. “It is a great mo-
ment. I have no words to express
my joy. In my youth, I had taken
part in agitations in the demand
of a railhead, now I have grown
old but I am glad that our demand
has been fulfilled,” said Ramen-
dra Banik, an octogenarian.
This spell of joy ahead of
Kharchi Puja – a major festival of
the indigenous tribes, has come at
a good time. Agartala finally made
it to the national rail network
30 August 08
when an engine of the Northeast
Frontier Railway reached here af-
ter traversing a stretch of 68 km
between Ambassa and Agartala.
The train started its journey from
Swapnabari, in Authamura hill
ranges, amid unprecedented se-
curity cover. “Since it was a trial
run so we drove the engine very
slowly. We did not face any prob-
lem on the way but we stopped
at all stations as crowds gathered
Debiprasad Bhowmik
everywhere to get a glimpse of
the engine. I have never seen such
enthusiasm before,” said Narayan
Dutta, one of the drivers of the en-
gine. While Narayan was talking
to reporters, the other members of
his crew – driver Sudhanshu Ku-
mar Das and assistants Nabendu
Bhattacharjee and Chandan Ma-
jumder – got into a huddle with
other railway staff members to
celebrate the day. Agartala has
become the second state capital
in the Northeast after Guwahati
to have a railhead.
Trains first reached Tripura in
1964 when the railway was ex-
tended from Southern Assam to
the North Tripura town of Dhar-
managar. Later it was extended
further to Kumarghat. But then, it
took 40 years to get the railhead
to Agartala. Long sustained tribal
insurgency in the state has a lot
to do with it. The impetus grew
more in the Manmohan Singh led
UPA government at the Centre
with nagging pressure from the
state government. Chief Minister
Manik Sarkar had been the most
vocal about it.
This project was a herculean
challenge for the Northeast Fron-
tier Railway. The ‘human cost’
of this project was enormous. As
People cheer as the train makes its first chug.
many as 36 people – attached to
this project - died in nearly 28
militant attacks during work. The
rebels kidnapped a total of 67
people connected to this rail proj-
ect and only 19 were freed after
huge ransoms were paid to the ul-
tras. “It was a big challenge and
at times, it was difficult but we
had only one mission – to bring
the rail up to Agartala and we did
it because we got all-round sup-
port,” said F.S. Meena, Deputy
Chief Engineer, the Northeast
Frontier Railways (Construc-
tion).
The 109-km rail link between
Kumarghat, in North Tripura dis-
trict bordering Assam, and Agar-
tala was sanctioned in 1997 by
the then HD Dave Gowda gov-
ernment. The rough terrain and
the threat of militant attack had
forced the NFR to carry out the
work of laying the tracks at snail
pace.
Moreover, big tunnels had to
be cut through the Atharamura
STATE/TRIPURA
and Baramura hill ranges, which
separate Agartala from Ambassa.
Now that the engine trial has been
successful, soon the Railway
Safety and Security Board will
visit the state and a goods train tri-
al will be done. Once the Railway
Safety and Security Board gives
final clearance, passenger service
will begin. The NFR is eyeing the
auspicious day of 15th August to
start passenger service.
Meanwhile, the Agartala- Sa-
broom rail link project has been
sanctioned. The 110 km Agartala
- Sabroom line work would be-
gin by January 2009. The Tripura
government is trying to push the
Centre to begin Agartala–Dhaka
and Sabroom–Chittagong rail
service. Experts here feel that if
Agartala is linked to Bangladesh
via rail, the Northeast can very
easily access the Southeast Asian
markets through the Chittagong
port.
Ratnadeep Choudhury
August 08 31