Siliguri (West Bengal) [India], June 1 : With the completion of over 50 per cent of construction work, the much-awaited 44.96 km all-weather Sivok-Rangpo rail line project connecting West Bengal to Sikkim is expected to be completed by December 2024.
From Sivok in West Bengal to Rangpo in Sikkim, the project would be significant as it would not only connect the two states through a railway line but also give a boost to the socio-economic as well as strategic portion with its railway route approaching the India-China border.
The construction work on the Sivok-Rangpo rail line project to connect Sikkim with the rail network is showing perceptible progress as almost all tunnels and bridges on the route are almost in completion mode.
"Over 50 per cent construction work of the Sivok-Rangpo railway line project is completed and the whole project is targeted to be completed by December 2024. Works on all sites are going on and the construction is in an advanced stage," Project Director of IRCON International Limited Mohinder Singh told ANI.
Singh said, "We have completed almost 38.6 km length of the total 14 tunnels and breakthrough of six have already been done and lining there are being done as well".
"We invested around Rs 2,300 crore in 2022-2023 and Rs 3,000 crore will be utilized in the current financial year in the project," said Singh, adding, "The total cost of the project is approximately Rs 12,000 crore," Singh further said.
The IRCON Director further said, "We managed to get in-principle approval for taking up the project in June 2019 and the project took off only in October 2021 after the Covid-19 pandemic induced a lockdown across the country in 2020. ."
From Sivok to Rangpo, the total length of this railway line will be 44.96 km including 41.55 km rail line in West Bengal and 3.41 km in Sikkim.
Of its total length of 44.96 km Sivok to Rangpo project, 38.65 km (86 per cent) is in tunnels, 2.24 km (5 per cent) in Bridges and 4.79 km (9 per cent) length in open cutting and filling of station yards.
The foundation stone of the project was laid on October 30, 2009. The railway line consists of 14 tunnels with the longest tunnel of 5.30 km and the smallest tunnel covering 538 metres.
Five stations including Sivok and Rangpo are planned on the proposed Railway Line. Four stations are proposed to be open crossing stations including Sivok, Riyang, Melli and Rangpo and one underground halt station Teesta Bazar.
The construction work of the project is supervised by International Consultants so that Safety and Quality are ensured. IRCON is taking all the measures to ensure minimum disturbance to the Environment and forest.
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