An outlay of Rs.500 crore has been provided for the 110-km Agartala-Sabroom (India-Bangladesh) new rail link during 2014-15, an official statement said here.An expenditure of around Rs.596 crore had been incurred till March 2014 on the rail link. The project that falls in Tripura has been taken up at a cost of Rs.1,741 crore, Minister of State for Railways Manoj Sinha said in a written reply to a question in the Lok Sabha recently."Earthwork, bridges and track linking works have been taken up," he said."A Reconnaissance Engineering-cum-Traffic Survey for providing rail connectivity between (India's) Belonia (a station being constructed on Agartala-Sabroom new line project) and (Bangladesh's) Belonia has been taken up," Sinha said.
About the 15-km Agartala (India)-Akahaura (Bangladesh) new line, he said: "This is the only project for which agreement has been entered into between India and Bangladesh for rail connectivity."The project was included in the 2012-13 budget at an anticipated cost of Rs.252 crore. The Memorandum of Understanding between India and Bangladesh was signed in February, 2013."An expenditure of Rs.10 crore has been incurred up to March, 2014 and an outlay of Rs.100 crore has been provided during 2014-15 for this project. Land acquisition has been taken up," he said.