Guwahati: In a major breakthrough, Indian Railway on Monday completed the final concrete lining of the tunnel no 14 of the Sivok – Rangpo Rail Project (SRRP) in Sikkim.
Last year, the milestone of a breakthrough of this tunnel was achieved and the completion of the final concrete lining is a marvellous achievement by the Engineers involved in this project, NF Railway said in a statement on Tuesday.
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In March 2023, Railways Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw also inspected this tunnel and appreciated the work.
Finally, the auspicious occasion of the completion of the final concrete lining is marked as a significant event in the history of this project, NF Railway added.
This tunnel is the gateway of the railway network to the State of Sikkim. The tunnel is about 1977 m long and is situated in the Rangpo Sub-Division in Sikkim’s Pakyong district.
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This tunnel has achieved the credit of being the first to complete of final concrete lining out of 14 tunnels of the Project.
The tunnel is located between Kumrek and Khanikhola in the East Sikkim region and traverses through challenging geological conditions of the Lesser Himalayas.
The new Austrian Tunnelling Method (NATM) has been adopted for the completion of the tunnel through challenging and vulnerable groundmass with the supervision of well-experienced engineers from India along with highly experienced foreign engineers in this project.
The track linking works will be the next activity going to start through this tunnel very soon. Rangpo Station is situated just after Tunnel No. T-14 is also under construction and on completion will be a commercial and tourism hub for the State of Sikkim. This railway project will enhance the standard of socio-economic status of the state.
This New Rail Link Project from Sivok to Rangpo is about 45 km long and is characterised by 14 nos. tunnels, 22 nos. bridges and 5 nos. stations including an underground station at Teesta Bazar in West Bengal.
About 38 km of the entire project alignment is passing through tunnels, and about 76% of the tunnelling work has already been completed.
The mining work at 6 tunnels is already completed and many are on the verge of completion of mining. The final concrete lining works at other tunnels have also started.
At present all the activities related to the construction of tunnels, bridges and stations on this project are in progress on a war footing basis and are targeted to complete by December 2024.
This is one of the prestigious ongoing National projects in India and upon completion of this project, the first time the state of Sikkim will be connected via railways, NF Railway added.