Passenger train service from Agartala likely from April

The much awaited passenger train service between Tripura and the rest of India is likely to start in April, a railway official said on Wednesday.

"After completion of all technical, logistical and administrative formalities by mid-April, the train will start running via Guwahati," said spokesman Pranav Jyoti Sharma of the Northeast Frontier Railway.

He said the Commissioner of Railway Safety (CRS), Shailesh Kumar Pathak, was now examining the technical aspects of the newly laid Agartala-Badarpur (Assam) broad gauge railway line.

Pathak, who met Tripura Chief Minister Manik Sarkar on Tuesday, told reporters that the broad gauge line laid up to Agartala was "excellent and unique".

The first commercial freight train arrived in Tripura on February 22 from Assam's Badarpur town.

Assam's Barak Valley was brought on the broad gauge rail map last year. A regular passenger train service between Silchar and Guwahati started on November 21 last year.