Evolution of Railway Transport System in Tripura, India: A Chronological Approach

Indian Railways is the fourth largest railway network in the world. The journey of railway transportation in India was started in 1853 as an inalienable tool of imperialism. Later on, many Indian states, especially provincial states, were getting connected with the railway services.Pre-independence period, the railway becomes the prime mode of transportation, mainly for long-distance in India. Some states were connected with railways immediately after the Independence (1947), and few others struggled for railways connectivity. Tripura, a tiny state of Northeast India which merged with India during 1949, although southernmost part of the state connected at last through railways in the year 2019 due to central-state political relationship, domestic political instability, tribal movement and locational disadvantage. This study aims to find out the chronological evolution process of the railway transport system in Tripura. The study has been carried out mainly based on the archive data and secondary data analysis. The cartographic techniques also help to illustrate the sequential development of the railway transport system in the state. Developmental dynamics exteriorise that the growth pattern of railways in Tripura is socio-political by its idiosyncrasy, which continues as an imperative role in further developing the railway transport system of the state.