HT Bureau
GUWAHATI, April 3: In a major milestone, tunnel T-7 of the Sivok – Rangpo Rail Project (SRRP), located in Kalimpong district of West Bengal, achieved breakthrough on March 30.
With this breakthrough, mining activities have been successfully accomplished in 10 tunnels of this project. Notably, the first underground railway station within the Indian Railways network i.e. Teesta Bazar station comes in this tunnel, marking a pioneering step in the advancement of railway infrastructure in the country.
The main tunnel spans 3082 meters, accompanied by an access tunnel. The cavern extends for 650 meters, featuring a single platform as part of its design. This extensive cavern incorporates a network of six cross passages, with the total adit length reaching 800 meters, showcasing the project’s comprehensive scale.
To ensure passenger safety and comfort, meticulous ventilation has been integrated into the design, creating a conductive environment within the underground space. Situated near the Teesta in the Kalimpong district of West Bengal, this tunnel traverses through vulnerable and challenging geological and seismic conditions of the Younger Himalayas. Like all other tunnels in the SRRP, to counter vulnerability of the ground mass, latest and most sophisticated tunneling technology, i.e., New Austrian Tunneling Method (NATM) has been used here.
The Sivok – Rangpo new rail link project connecting Sivok (West Bengal) and Rangpo (Sikkim) is about 45 kms long and is characterized by 14 tunnels, 17 bridges and five stations. The length of the longest tunnel (T-10) is 5.3 km and length of longest bridge (Br-17) is 425 meters. About 38.64 kms of the entire project alignment is passing through tunnels. 92.31 per cent of the tunneling work has already been accomplished.
At present final lining has been completed in tunnel T-14, T-9 and T-2 and is under progress in tunnels T-3, T-5, T-6, T-7, T-8, T-10, T-11 and T-12. Total 11.96 km lining has been completed till date. Work in allsections is being carried out round the clock.
This is one of the most prestigious ongoing National Projects in India and on completion of this project, first time the state of Sikkim will be connected via railways.
This rail network on its completion is aimed to provide alternate connectivity to the state of Sikkim. At present all the activities related to construction of tunnels, bridges and station yards are being implemented on a war footing for early completion of the project.
