The mining of 12 of 14 tunnels along the Sivok-Rangpo rail route, an ambitious railway project launched in 2009 to include the mountain state of Sikkim in the railway map of India, has been completed.

According to sources in Northeast Frontier Railway (NFR), on August 6, the breakthrough of tunnel number six (T-06), which is 3,943 metres long, was carried out.

“So far, mining activities have been completed in 12 tunnels. The final lining has been completed in five tunnels while it is in progress in seven other tunnels. In T-06, along with the maintunnel, an evacuation tunnel of 577 metres will also be built, both in Kalimpong district,” said an official.

The evacuation tunnel will come up near the Teesta Low Dam Project (TLDP)-IIIof NHPC.

The rail project which will connect the Sivok station with Rangpo, the bordering town of Sikkim, is a 44.96-kilometre-long rail project. The project includes 14 tunnels, 13 major bridges, nine minor bridges and five stations.

While the longest tunnel (T-10) will be 5.3 kilometres long, the longest bridge will be 425 metres long. About 38.65 kilometres of the total route comprise tunnels.

NFR sources said that as the rail route passes through a hilly area which is known to be fragile and a landslide-prone zone, the tunnels are being dug in the New Austrian Tunneling Method (NATM).

“So far, around 66 per cent of the work has been completed while 93.5 per cent of the tunnelling work has been done. Work is going onround the clock,” the railway official added.

Tourism stakeholders in the region said they were eagerly awaiting the project. Train connectivity, they said, would provide an additional mode of transport to Sikkim.

“The railway route, with so many tunnels and bridges, will also draw thousands to go to Sikkim. We believe travel time to Sikkim will reduce,” a tourism stakeholder had said earlier.