Agartala: Union Minister Pratima Bhoumik revealed that Tripura is on the brink of receiving its inaugural Vande Bharat Express, marking a significant leap in transportation infrastructure for the region. The North Eastern Frontier Railway (NFR) is diligently working on electrifying tracks to facilitate this transformative initiative, said reports.

According to Bhowmick, efforts by the NFR to electrify the railway network from Dharmanagar to Agartala are progressing swiftly, with completion expected by June or July. Once this electrification project concludes, the Vande Bharat Express will extend its services to Agartala, slashing travel time for passengers to reach Guwahati to just four to five hours, down from the current 12-hour journey. Union Minister Bhoumik highlighted that it took 44 years to extend the railway service from Dharmanagar to Churaibari in the past.

The Vande Bharat Express is a medium-distance superfast express service operated by Indian Railways. It is a reserved, air-conditioned chair car service connecting cities that are less than 800 km (500 mi) apart or take less than ten hours to travel with existing services. The other existing Vande Bharat service in the Northeast connects Assam’s Guwahati with West Bengal’s New Jalpaiguri railway station.

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