Railways eye transit route thru Bangla

In its bid to boost trade with China and Asean countries, India is exploring possibilities of a transit route through Bangladesh which could bring down freight costs and reduce distances in the region.

"Such a possibility will adequately reduce the rail distance to just 350 km between India and Bangladesh sharply bringing down the freight cost," Railway Ministry sources told PTI.

There are already five rail route linkages between India and Bangladesh""Gede (India)-Darsana (Bangladesh) broad gauge, Singhabad (India)-Rohanpur (Bangladesh) broad gauge, Petrapole (India)-Benapole (Bangladesh) broad gauge and Radhikapur (India)-Shahbazar (Bangladesh) metre gauge.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, as also Railway Minister Lalu Prasad, has been stressing the need for opening Eastern sector and linking it with Asean and South-East Asian countries to boost trade and economic ties between the two regions.

India has been considering linking it with the railways of countries including Burma, Myanmar, China (Tibet), Laos, Cambodia and further connecting with Russia, thus reviving the old trans-Asian railways.

On the request of Sri Lanka, India has also agreed to upgrade Colombo-Matara coast line of Sri Lankan Railways, they said adding that Rites Ltd has submitted a feasibility study for the project to Sri Lankan government.

India is planning establishment of a rail-based cargo transit route between Kolkata and Agartala through Bangladesh.

"If implemented, the project packs the potential to make cargo movement from Kolkata to Tripura and to the remaining North-Eastern states a lot easier and more cost effective," ministry sources said.

Though there is no direct rail link between Kolkata and Agartala at present, they said that a rail link was being set up between Kumarghat and Agartala by December 2007.

"Once this happens, the distance between Kolkata and Agartala will be roughly 1,500 km. Now India is exploring a possible transit through Bangladesh, which in turn, will sharply reduce the rail distance to just 350 km. Such rail connectivity is slated to sharply bring down freight cost too," sources said.

In the western sector, Indian Railways is already having two rail connectivities with Pakistan, Kokhrapar-Munabao (Rajasthan-Sindh) and Atari-Wagha (Srinagar-Lahore), and is all set to launch freight traffic between the two countries from the existing routes.

It also visualises extending this connectivity beyond Pakistan and link Indian Railways with Iran, Turkey and Central Asian Railways, thus bringing the old memory of trans-Caucasian Railways in Central Asia.

India is understood to have sounded Bangladesh to allow cargo transit through a rail route linking Kolkata and Agartala through Bangladesh. India has also offered a 150 million dollar credit-line to Bangladesh for its railways development.

A railway project between Kolkata and Dhaka has already been announced, the sources said adding that on the cargo transit issue through Bangladesh, India has already done a feasibility study. This will reduce the cost of cargo transit from Kolkata to north-eastern states to a great extent. India is awaiting a positive response from Bangladesh.

North-eastern states collectively receive an annual freight of about 30-35 million tonne through railways from other Indian states and most of which comes through Kolkata.

Tripura, which is located between Bangladesh and South-east Asia, is an ideal gateway to other North-Eastern states""Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Mizoram and Manipur.

Pre-independence Kolkata and Tripura had natural communication links through road transport, railways and waterways through Bangladesh.