Agartala, Oct. 5: The ongoing railway gauge conversion in Tripura, which began on October 1, has been going on in full swing and by March 31 next year the broad gauge railway network will reach Udaipur, headquarters of Gomati district.

Northeast Frontier Railway general manager R.K. Gupta, who paid a two-day visit to Tripura to take stock of the ongoing work on gauge conversion, said this in an interaction with the media.

"We took up the gauge upgrade on October 1. We will take six months to complete the task, that is, by March 31. When the railway track had been originally laid in 2008, we had kept a provision for conversion to broad gauge. So the work will be completed within our targeted deadline," Gupta said.

He said he had come to visit Tripura to see the working condition of field units laying the broad gauge track.

"I came to see the working condition and the requirement of our workers so that they can make smooth progress. I have made an assessment of their requirements and these things will be supplied soon," Gupta said. He said the Lumding-Silchar broad gauge connectivity had been completed six months ago and goods trains were plying between Lumding and Silchar and passenger trains would start plying soon.

"The railway connectivity between Badarpur and Karimganj in Barak valley of Assam has remained suspended for more than a year but work is on. There is no major geological problem in gauge conversion between Karimganj and Agartala. We will simultaneously complete the connectivity between Dharmanagar and Udaipur via Agartala on the one hand and Karimganj and Badarpur on the other," Gupta said.

Having arrived in Udaipur on Saturday, Gupta visited the proposed alignment of railway track between Agartala and Akhaura railway junction in Bangladesh, 7km west of Agartala town.

He said funds crunch was standing in the way of commencing work on the Agartala-Akhaura railway connectivity.

"This project was initially estimated at a cost of Rs 251 crore but we are short of funds. There was also land acquisition problem in Bangladesh though the Tripura government has resolved it on our side," Gupta said.

He said once the function was finalised, work would begin and be completed well in time.

Gupta also thanked the state government for extending full co-operation to the railway's work in Tripura.

"Because of the co-operation we have received from the state government we have been able to make smooth progress in our work in Tripura. I met chief minister Manik Sarkar today and he has promised all help and co-operation from the state government to ensure early completion of the work," Gupta said.

He said senior NF railway officials would visit Tripura at regular intervals to supervise the progress of the work.