Guwahati: Chief Minister of Assam Himanta Biswa Sarma and his Tripura counterpart Manik Saha were present at Guwahati and Agartala Railway Stations, respectively. Ashwini Vaishnaw, Union Minister of Railways, Communications and Electronics & Information Technology, virtually joined the flagging off programmes at different stations. MPs, MLAs, senior railway officials of division and other state dignitaries were present during the flagging-off ceremony at different stations.
Fulfilling the long-standing demand of the people of Barak Valley, Chief Minister of Assam Himanta Biswa Sarma flagged off the train no.15617/15618 (Guwahati – Dullabcherra – Guwahati) Express from Guwahati Station. Kripanath Mallah, MP (Lok Sabha) and Bijoy Malakar, MLA/Ratabari were present at Dullabcherra station. Chetan Kumar Shrivastava, General Manager, Northeast Frontier Railway along with senior railway officials of Headquarters were present at Guwahati Railway Station.The tri-weekly regular service of train no. 15617/15618 (Guwahati – Dullabcherra – Guwahati) Express will run on Monday, Wednesday and Saturday commencing journey from 21 October leaving Guwahati at 22:00 hours to reaching Dullabcherra at 09:45 hours next day.
On the return journey the train will depart at 11:10 hours on Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday from Dullabcherra and reach Guwahati at 23:15 hours on the same day. This new train will be the first direct train service between Guwahati the capital of Assam and Dullabcherra bordering Mizoram. This will provide better rail connectivity with ease of travel for the people of the bordering areas of Assam and Mizoram.
Chief Minister of Tripura Manik Saha flagged off the extension of train no. 12519/12520 (Lokmanya Tilak Terminus – Kamakhya – Lokmanya Tilak Terminus) Express upto Agartala and new services of daily DEMU train no. 07688/07687 (Agartala – Sabroom – Agartala) from Agartala Railway Station. Kumari Pratima Bhoumik, Union Minister of State for Social Justice and Empowerment, Sushanta Chowdhury, Minister of Transport, Tourism, Food, Civil Supplies & Consumer Affairs, Govt. of Tripura and Mina Rani Sarkar, MLA/Badharghat, Tripura were also present during the flagging off ceremony. The extended service of train No. 12519/12520 (Lokmanya Tilak Terminus – Agartala – Lokmanya Tilak Terminus) Express will commence its regular journey from 22.10.2023, Sunday at 07:50 hours from Lokmanya Tilak Terminus and reach Agartala at 17:50 hours on Tuesday.
On the return journey the train will depart at 07:20 hours on Thursday from Agartala and reach Lokmanya Tilak Terminus at 16:15 hours on Saturday. The extension of this train service will connect the capital of Tripura with Western part of India i.e. Mumbai.The regular service of train No. 07688/07687 (Agartala – Sabroom – Agartala) daily DEMU Special will commence from 20 October leaving Agartala at 13.40 hours to reach Sabroom at 15:55 hours. On the return journey the train will depart from Sabroom at 16:20 hours and reach Agartala at 18:50 hours.
Introduction of DEMU train will enhance connectivity for the people of remote areas of Tripura with the state capital i.e. Agartala. One escalator was also inaugurated at the Agartala station by the Chief Minister of Tripura giving a further boost to the existing passenger amenities. This newly constructed escalator will be helpful for senior citizens and patients during boarding of trains and interchanging platforms.
Train no. 12514/12513 (Guwahati – Secunderabad – Guwahati) Express which was extended upto Silchar was also flagged off from Silchar Railway Station. The extended service of train No. 12513/12514 (Secunderabad – Silchar- Secunderabad) Express will commence its regular journey from 21 October Saturday at 16:35 hours from Secunderabad and reach Silchar at 23:20 hours on Monday. On the return journey the train will depart at 19:50 hours on Wednesday from Silchar and reach Secunderabad at 03:35 hours on Saturday. This new train will be the first direct train service between Barak Valley (Silchar) with one of the Southern cities Secunderabad.
The extension and introduction of these train services will serve the purpose of passengers who travel frequently for medical, education, business etc. from northeast to other parts of the country and within northeast. Selling of tickets has already started through different available platforms.
