AGARTALA: PM Narendra Modi on Thursday exhorted Tripura to bring about 'transformation through transportation'. For a long time, transportation here meant subsidized air travel or a journey down the state's lone highway NH44.All that changed post 2016, when the NDA-ruled Centre began giving trains to Agartala. With BJP stressing on better rail connectivity, the Left Front claiming credit for railways coming to the state, governor Tathagata Roy alleging that tracks have been tampered with and locals of neighbouring Silchar crying neglect, the railways has got the state talking.Tripura got its first passenger train after gauge conversion - the Agartala-New Delhi Tripura Sundari Express - under former rail minister Suresh Prabhu in 2016. The same year, it got its first train to Sealdah in the form of the Kanchanjungha Express. In 2017, it got a Rajdhani and in January this year, it got a Humsafar Express to Bengaluru. While the Centre has placed Agartala firmly on the railway map, this perceived largesse to the poll-bound state has angered locals in Assam's Silchar."The line from Guwahati to Agartala branches off towards Silchar from Badarpur (Assam). People have to travel 30km down to Badarpur to catch the Rajdhani or the Humsafar Express starting from Agartala. It is a hard ride from Silchar to Badarpur, especially with luggage," said Santulan Mahanta, a teacher at HPB Girl's College in Golaghat. "Dynamic ticket pricing is another problem. A ticket for the Humsafar Express is often as costly as the airfare to Bengaluru," he added.The Northeast Frontier Railway (NFR), however, denied any neglect of Silchar. "Trains to and from Agartala are running full. People in Silchar can always take a passenger train to Badarpur to catch a train coming from Agartala. I don't think there is any problem," said NFR CPRO Pranav Jyoti Sharma.The BJP has also stressed on strengthening rail links. "Tripura is a border state. For security reasons alone, it should get more trains," said state BJP president Biplab Deb. "Regarding Silchar, I will talk to the concerned officials and find out what is happening," he added.The prospect of more trains, while welcomed by some, has left others unimpressed. "Once you get up on a train from here, you don't know when you will reach" said a banker on a flight from Kolkata. Tripura lost its rail links overnight after Partition. Trains have to follow a circuitous route through the 'chicken's neck' corridor in West Bengal's Siliguri. Many in Agartala feel the railway link that would truly bring about 'transformation through transportation' is the 15-km line from Agartala to Akhaura in Bangladesh. Once ready, it will cut the distance between Agartala and Kolkata by 1,000 km."I cross the border almost daily for work. Now I walk over to the other side and take a long auto ride to my village. Once the line is ready, I can take the train," said Jawaharlal, a Bangladeshi national waiting to cross the border on foot at the Integrated Check Point in Agartala.

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