Union Minister of Railways & Communications, Electronics and Information Technology, Ashwini Vaishnaw and others during the inspection of the Tunnel No. 14 of the Sivok – Rangpo new rail link project on March 7. (Photo Courtesy: NFR)
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Guwahati, March 7 (MExN): The Union Minister of Railways, Communications, Electronics and Information Technology Ashwini Vaishnaw, on March 7, inspected the proposed Rangpo station in Sikkim as well as the Tunnel No. 14 of the Sivok-Rangpo new rail link project.
He reviewed the progress of the work and urged the officials to complete the work at the earliest, an official release from the Northeast Frontier Railway informed.
At Rangpo, Vaishnaw said that it is one of the 5 railway stations that would be developed under the Sivok-Rangpo rail link project.
The station building is proposed to be of 12,850 square metres with car parking, 24X7 power backup, drinking water, solar panels on roof, divyang friendly facilities, escalators, lifts, concourse etc. to provide passengers the modern amenities and comfort at the same time, the release said.
He also inspected the Tunnel No. 14, which is about 2 kilometres long, and traverses through vulnerable and challenging geological conditions of the lesser Himalayan range.
All the tunnels in this project are being constructed using the NATM (New Austrian Tunneling Method), the most advanced tunnel construction methodology adopted in Indian Railways and best suited for the strata and sensitive geology, the NFR release maintained.
During the inspection, the Minister lauded the engineers and workers for the excellent work being done using such state of the art methodologies despite the various challenges in the region, it said.
This new rail link project connecting Sivok (West Bengal) and Rangpo (Sikkim) is about 45 kms long and is characterised by 14 tunnels, 23 bridges and 5 stations.
The entire length of tunnelling work is about 38 km and the project was sanctioned with an estimated cost of Rs 4085 crore and targeted to be completed by December, 2023, the release informed.
This line would be extended further to capital city of Gangtok bringing railway connectivity to State capital, while initial survey up to Nathula is also under progress, it added.
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