New Delhi: India has planned to build a 15-km railway track to link its isolated northeastern region with Bangladesh as part of its plans for enhanced economic connectivity, a media report said here Sunday.

Regional English daily North East reported the new track would link its frontier Agartala with Bangladesh's eastern Akhaura town eventually to be connected with Chittagong seaport, Sylhet and Dhaka.

It said India planned to sign a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Bangladesh to set up the railway link, five kilometers of which to be built within Indian territory and the rest in Bangladesh land.

The project cost has been estimated at 271 crore Indian rupees, the report said.

Approached for comments a Bangladesh Railway official said talks were underway about the cross border railway track as the two countries earlier agreed to construct the track during Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's India visit in January 2010.

"The site for the railway line was selected . . . it would be from Akhaura to Gangasagar in Bangladesh side" an area where the population was thin and would require little displacement," a railway official said.

An official of the Indian High Commission in Dhaka said, both sides now await signing of the MoU for launching the construction work as the route for the line was finalized.

"I can't tell you how long it may take . . . but we have reached agreements about the proposed route or the site," the official said.

Ends/AMA/02/12/12