GANGTOK, October 29: Union Railways Minister Mamta Banerjee arrived in Sikkim today evening to attend tomorrow’s foundation stone laying function of the Rs. 1339.48 crore Rangpo-Sevoke rail link project at Mining Ground, Rangpo.
Banerjee reached Rangpo at around 5:40 pm by road and headed straight towards the NHPC guest house at Balutar where arrangements had been made for her stay. However, she returned back to Rangpo tourist guest house as she did not wished to stay far away from the venue of tomorrow’s programme. State authorities and Railway officials made arrangements for her stay at Rangpo tourist guest house, which is less than 10 kms away from the venue of foundation stone laying function.
Vice President M Hamid Ansari who is currently on a three day trip of Sikkim will be laying the foundation stone of the Sevoke-Rangpo new BG railway line at the Mining Ground in presence of the Union Railways Minister, Governor BP Singh, Chief Minister Pawan Chamling and a host of other dignitaries.
The project which was sanctioned during the financial year 2008-09 is estimated to cost Rs. 1339.48 crore and spans a distance of 52.7 kms between Sevoke and Rangpo. Five stations have been proposed between the rail line-Raing, Gielkhola, Teesta Bazaar, Melli and Rangpo. There will be 100 bridges constructed with four manned level crossings along the rail track.
Altogether 13 tunnels will be constructed for the project with the longest tunnel being 1814 m.
Final location survey is in progress to fix up the alignment of this route and work out detailed estimate of the project. This will provide the first ever link to Sikkim.
Indian Railway Construction Company Ltd, a public sector undertaking under Ministry of Railway is entrusted with the execution of the project which is targeted to completed in five years.
Meanwhile, in accordance with the Railway’s policy of providing rail link to all the capitals of the Northeastern States, Railway has carried out a reconnaissance survey to bring Gangtok on the railway map of the country. Another survey to provide rail connectivity from Mirik to Gangtok is in progress
1 comment:
This is good news but one just hopes that this project gets completed. With mamta banerjee at the helm, a leader who is more interested in becoming the chief minister of west bengal than seeing any railway project completed, one wonders what will happen.
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