Printed By: Shahrukh Shah
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Representational picture. (File picture)
At current, trains going in direction of Guwahati from different elements of the nation, go by way of Sivok railway station which now paves the way in which for a brand new rail path to Rangpo in Sikkim by way of Riyang,
With the completion of mining work in 10 out of 14 tunnels, the Railways has set a brand new deadline of August 2025 to complete the Sivok-Rangpo Rail Undertaking (SRRP) which can join Sikkim with the remainder of the nation by way of a rail community for the primary time, a senior official mentioned on Friday.
The mission, protecting a complete size of 44.96 km between Sivok (West Bengal) to Ranpo (Sikkim), has 14 tunnels, 22 bridges (13 main and 9 minor) and 5 railway stations viz Sivok, Riyang, Teesta Bazar, Melli and Rangpo.
At current, trains going in direction of Guwahati from different elements of the nation go by way of Sivok railway station which now paves the way in which for a brand new rail path to Rangpo in Sikkim by way of Riyang, Teesta and Melli (all in West Bengal). “Out of the 14 tunnels, mining work has been accomplished in 10. Out of the ten, we now have accomplished the liner work in 4 tunnels with work happening in the remaining six. The longest tunnel is 5.3 km and the shortest one 538 metres,” the official mentioned.
He added, “Out of 13 main bridges, 12 are prepared with the substructure. The utmost peak of the pier (of Bridge-17) is 85 metre, establishing which was itself an uphill job. Essentially the most demanding facet of the mission is that 86 % of the overall rail line passes by way of tunnels and 5 % over bridges. Solely 9 % is below the open sky.”
Speaking in regards to the problem in assembly the August 2025 deadline, he mentioned, “We skilled vital squeezing/deformation in T-8 and T-10 as a result of very poor strata of rocks. We took remedial measures to manage it by cement consolidation, grouting and elevated main help as per the design,” an official from Ircon Worldwide, which is establishing the entire mission, mentioned.
He added, “To handle this situation, a number of different corrective measures had been taken. Nonetheless, progress has been sluggish, attributable to difficult rock situations. To handle this problem, mission engineers have adopted specialised help strategies.” Undertaking officers say that Teesta Bazar station, which is the nation’s first underground railway station, can be nearing completion with the final leg of labor happening.
“We’ll begin laying rail tracks from the top of Could from Tunnel 14 which falls in Rangpo,” the Ircon official mentioned. He added, “Regardless of encountering difficult geological situations and steep terrain, the SRRP crew continues to make regular progress. The disruption in communication alongside NH-10 from Sivok to Rangpo over the previous 4 months as a result of flash flood on River Teesta on October 4, 2023 has considerably impacted tunnel, bridge, and yard works.”
Though this mission was sanctioned in 2009-10, the land acquisition and forest clearances issued delayed its progress because the rail line crosses by way of Mahananda Wildlife Sanctuary, Kurseong Forest Division, Darjeeling Forest Division, Kalimpong Forest Division and the East Sikkim Forest Division.
The work progress of the mission additionally suffered as a result of COVID pandemic from March 2020 to September 2020 and December 2020 to Feb 2021. Railway officers say that at current all of the tenders for the tunnels, bridges and yards have been awarded and execution of the works is in progress.
