PM to virtually lay foundation for Sikkim's first railway station on Monday

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Prime Minister Narendra Modi will lay the foundation stone for Sikkim's first railway station, Rangpo Station, on February 26, said Deputy Railway Manager of Alipurduar.

PM Modi will lay the foundation for almost 550 Amrit railway stations on February 26.

Amarjeet Agrawal, the DRM, said, "Rangpo station is the form of a touristic and defensive point of view for Sikkim and India, Basically, Sikkim did not have a railway line earlier. The government has signed this project in three phases. In the first phase, Sevoke to the Rangpo rail project; in the other phase, from Rangpo to Gangtok; and the third phase, from Gangtok to Nathula".

"This is the third mode of connectivity for the people of Sikkim, So far, people are travelling here by Road and airway. This project has to be completed till 2024 but due to some external factors like floods and landslides, the completion period has been extended till 2025," the DRM Alipurduar added

"Sevoke is the alignment of the Assam link project. This is 26 km away from Siliguri railway station. After this project, we are upgrading the Sevoke station. The Sevoke-Rangpo project is a 45-kilometer-long rail project. Out of forty-five km, three and a half km is part of Sikkim state and forty-one and a half km is part of West Bengal," said project director Mohinder Singh.

The project director also added, "This project has fourteen tunnels and thirteen major bridges, and nine minor bridges. Completion of the project has done sixty to sixty-five per cent, from next month we will initiate track work.".

"Eighty-six per cent of the alignment of this project is in the tunnel, and digging out of the tunnel is challenging work; it's not easy to dig, because rocks are not too strong. In a month, we dig fifteen metres," says the Project director

The project director said, "Teesta Bazar station could be an underground railway station. This comes between the Sevoke to Rangpo rail projects. The length of the platform of this station is six hundred and twenty metres, on which we could stand a full-length train, we have six excess tunnel for emergency purposes to evacuation.

"In the Indian Railway, especially in broad gauge, this is the first underground railway station. This station is Very relevant, because, Teesta bazar connects Darjning to Gangtok so it could be convenient for the passengers who want to go to Draining or Gangtok", the Project director added.