The Northeast Frontier Railway (NFR) and IRCON International Limited completed the digging of tunnel number eight of the Sivok-Rangpo railway project on March 12.
K K Sharma, the chief public relations officer of the NFR, said the 4.148km-long tunnel with an additional adit or passage of 1.010km is among the major tunnels of the project, which is an important rail link for the Northeast.
“The work was carried out under extremely challenging geological conditions, including weak, weathered, and fractured rock formations. The project team also had to manage construction risks associated with the hilly terrain and the proximity of the NH10,” said Sharma.
“With the successful completion of tunnel number eight, the tunneling work has now been completed in 13 of 14 tunnels planned under the project,” he added.
The ambitious initiative, which would put the mountain state of Sikkim on the Indian railway map, was taken up in 2009.
The total railway route is 44.96km, of which 41.55km is in Bengal and 3.41km is
in Sikkim.
Around 38.623km (nearly 86 percent) of the route runs through tunnels, 2.24km on bridges and the remaining stretch is station yards.
In addition to 14 tunnels, the project includes 13 major and 10 minor bridges, and five stations — Sivok, Riyang, Melli, Rangpo and an underground halt station at Teesta Bazar.
“So far, the tunnel lining work covering about 32.4km has already been completed in 13 tunnels, and the ballast-less track laying has been completed for over 21km inside the tunnels. We expect the work to finish by December 2027,” said Sharma.