Agartala, Jan. 24: The broad-gauge railway extension from Agartala to Udaipur in Gomati district was inaugurated though video conference this afternoon by Union minister for railways, Suresh Prabhakar Prabhu, from New Delhi's railway board office.

The train, with 10 carriages, chugged off from Agartala railway station at 3pm with hundreds of enthusiastic passengers having boarded it to capacity. The 44km railway track between Agartala and Udaipur will have stations at Sekekote, Bishalgarh, Bisramganj and Udaipur.

Residents have also raised a demand for a halt at Bagma, ahead of Udaipur.

Addressing the gathering at Agartala railway station through video-conference, Prabhu said Prime Minister Narendra Modi had a vision for all-round development of the Northeast.

"As part of the development process, all state capitals of the Northeast will be connected by railway to provide the region with effective infrastructure and work in this direction is in progress," said Prabhu.

The state BJP president, Biplab Kumar Deb, and Tripura in-charge Sunil Deodhar were also present.

"Agartala currently has five to six trains daily but the number will increase soon. During the UPA rule, the railway budget for the Northeast used to be around Rs 2,121 crore but this has risen to Rs 6,316 crore now. When I visited the state in July, there was an acute shortage of diesel but that was solved. I also had a discussion with chief minister Manik Sarkar and now we are using state-of-the-art technology to implement development programmes in the region," said Prabhu.

He added rail link to Udaipur had connected the two holiest shrines of the region, the Tripureshwari temple and Kamakhya temple.

Prabhu promised that the 15km railway stretch between Agartala and Akhaura would be completed within two years and the extension of the broad-gauge track up to Sabroom would be finished by 2019.

Tripura revenue and PWD minister Badal Chowdhury said Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina had promised to reopen all railway links between India and the neighbouring country.

"The Centre should take up this issue with the Bangladesh government and improve railway connectivity between the two countries. If that is done, we can have access to Chittagong port, which is essential for access to Southeast Asia," said Chowdhury.

Tripura transport minister Manik Dey proposed the setting up a separate railway link from Ambassa in Dhalai district across Mizoram and a tip of Bangladesh to Myanmar.

"This 200km alternative railway link will help us have direct access to Southeast Asia and have the benefit of upcoming trans-Asian railway network," said Dey.

He also urged the Centre to ensure early completion of the Agartala-Akhaura railway link and setting up of a railway division at Agartala in view of increased railway connectivity to and from Tripura.