beyond a few industries being set up in the Bodhjungnagar Industrial Growth Center. The Planning Commission estimates the poverty rate of all North East Indian states by using headcount ratio of Assam (the second largest state in North East India after Arunachal Pradesh). According to 2001 Planning Commission assessment, 22 percent of Tripura's rural residents were below the poverty line. However, Tripura government's independent assessment, based on consumption distribution data, reported that, in 2001, 55 percent of the rural population was below the poverty line. Geographic isolation and communication bottlenecks coupled with insufficient infrastructure have restricted economic growth of the state. High rate of poverty and unemployment continues to be prevalent. Transport Air Maharaja Bir Bikram Airport, located 12 km northwest of Agartala at Singerbhil, is the second busiest airport in northeast India after Guwahati. There are direct flights to Kolkata, Imphal, Delhi, Shillong, Guwahati, Bangalore, Dibrugarh, Aizawl, Ahmedabad and Mumbai. The major airlines are flybig, Air India and IndiGo. Passenger helicopter services are available between the capital and major towns (Kailashahar, Dharmanagar) as well as to more remote areas such as Kanchanpur, Belonia and Gandacherra. Railway Agartala came on India's railway map with the advent of the railways in the subcontinent in 1853 but the link was broken when India was partitioned in 1947. Railway service was established in Tripura in 1964 by constructing track from Lumding in Assam to Dharmanagar and Kailasahar in Tripura but the track did not connect the state capital Agartala. Rail transport was absent in the state until 2008–09 when the railway track was extended to the capital Agartala. The metre gauge rail track was connected to broad gauge at Lumding. The major railway stations in this line are in Agartala, Dharmanagar, and Kumarghat. This metre gauge track was converted to broad gauge in 2016 and now trains run from Agartala to Kolkata and Delhi. The total length of this railway track in Tripura state is 153 km. It is a single line without electrification. The Agartala sabroom line was compled and fully operational since 2019. A new railway line is being laid westwards from Agartala to Akhaura in Bangladesh. This will reduce the distance between Agartala and Kolkata by over 1000 km and provide rail access to Chittagong port. Some major Express trains operated from Agartala are - Agartala - Anand Vihar Terminal Rajdhani Express Agartala - Bengaluru Cantonment Humsafar Express Agartala -