Tripura to get regular electric trains after NFR trials succeed

Tripura is set to become the second state in the North East, after Assam, to run long-distance express trains on electric power, with the Northeast Frontier Railway (NFR) beginning full-fledged electric services after a series of successful trial runs, officials said on Monday.

An NFR official told IANS that train number 20502, the Anand Vihar-Agartala Tejas Rajdhani Express, ran on electric traction from end to end last week. Express trains hauled by electric locomotives will now be introduced in Tripura in phases, he said.

From DEMU to MEMU

The change builds on a smaller step taken earlier this year. On July 4, NFR started the region's first Mainline Electric Multiple Unit (MEMU) service, linking Agartala with Karimganj (now Sribhumi) in southern Assam. The train used to run as a diesel-electric (DEMU) service.

According to NFR officials, the MEMU:

• has 12 stainless steel coaches and can carry about 3,600 passengers;
• has LED lighting, bio-toilets, CCTV, a public address system and a GPS-based display showing the next station and platform;
• is cheaper to run and cleaner than a diesel train, because it draws power from overhead lines.

Network fully electrified

Tripura Power Minister Ratan Lal Nath told the agency that the Tripura State Electricity Corporation Ltd (TSECL) has finished electrifying all 271 km of the state's railway network, which runs from Churaibari on the Assam border to Sabroom near the Bangladesh border.

Nath recalled that trains first reached Dharmanagar in north Tripura in 1964, but rail took another 44 years to reach Agartala in 2008. The line was extended to Sabroom in 2019, and the Agartala-Akhaura link to Bangladesh was completed in 2023. He said the conversion of the old metre-gauge line to broad gauge was completed after 2014.

Four stations in the state, Agartala, Udaipur, Kumarghat and Dharmanagar, are being redeveloped under the Centre's Amrit Bharat Station Scheme.

What it means for passengers

Tripura already has direct trains to Delhi, Kolkata, Mumbai, Firozpur and Patna. Electric haulage removes the need to change engines on the way and is generally cheaper to run than diesel. All of these trains depend on the hilly Lumding-Badarpur section in Assam, the only rail link between Tripura, Mizoram, Manipur and southern Assam and the rest of the country.

NFR has not yet published a list or timeline of which express trains will switch to electric locomotives first. NEInsider will update this story when it does.