By Anirban Sinha Roy: Sikkim is expected to be connected to the rest of the country by rail in 2024 as the work on the Sivok-Rangpo railway project between West Bengal and Sikkim is nearing completion. The railway line will run between Sivok in West Bengal and Rangpo in Sikkim.
The railway project is 45-km-long and has five stations, said Sivok-Rangpo railway project director. It also has an underground station in Bengal’s Teesta Bazar.
Project Director Mahinder Singh said, “The new rail link project from Sivok to Rangpo is about 45-km-long and includes 14 tunnels, 22 bridges and 5 stations, including an underground station at Teesta Bazar in West Bengal.”
ALSO READ | Indian Army rescues 500 tourists stranded in North Sikkim due to land slides, road blocks
“About 38 km stretch of the entire project will move through tunnels. Already, about 76 percent of the tunnel construction work has been completed. Excavation of six tunnels has already been completed and several more are nearing completion. Final concrete lining of other tunnels has also started.”
Through the project, the North East Frontier Railway hoped for a connectivity boost for the land-locked state of Sikkim. In a press release from January this year, the North East Frontier Railway said that the project will “provide overall development for the state”.
ALSO READ | Definition of connectivity has changed: PM Modi launches railway projects, methanol plant
People in the region will get long-distance access across the country and essential goods can be transported to the state with more ease, said the press release.
