Guwahati (The Hawk): An evacuation tunnel together with the main tunnel were successfully drilled, officials announced on Monday, marking a significant accomplishment in the Sivok-Rangpo railway line project.
According to Northeast Frontier Railways' Chief Public Relations Officer Sabyasachi De, this new rail link project is around 45 km long and features 14 tunnels, 13 major bridges, 10 minor bridges, and 4 new stations.
A total of 38 km of the project's alignment are tunnels, and 63% of the tunnelling construction has already been finished.
In order to finish the project by the end of next year, he continued, "at the moment, all the activities relating to the building of tunnels, bridges, and station yards are operating on a war footing basis.
In the presence of the Project Director, Chief General Manager, and other officers of Ircon International Limited, Northeast Frontier Railway, the Amberg Engineering (Detail Design Consultancy) team, construction company ABCI Infrastructure Pvt. Ltd., as well as local administration, "Tunnel No. 11" in the Kalimpong district of West Bengal was bored on Saturday.
Between Tarkhola and Tumlangkhola in Kalimpong, there is a main tunnel that is 3.2 km long and an evacuation tunnel that is 960 m long.
The lower Himalayas' complex and unstable geology is traversed by the tunnel. The New Austrian Tunnelling Method, the most advanced tunnelling technology, has been used in this and all other tunnels in the Sivok-Rangpo train project to combat the fragility of the groundmass.
Officials stated that the initiative "involves not just the best and most experienced experts from India, but also highly experienced foreign engineers."
This railway line would connect Pakyong in Sikkim with the West Bengal districts of Kalimpong and Darjeeling.
(Inputs from Agencies)
