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52-km-long Bengal-Sikkim rail link to be operational by Dec 2023: Railways

Construction of the rail line, which will have six stations, started in 2009 when West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee was the railway minister.

West Bengal Governor Jagdeep Dhankar interacts with State CM Mamata Banerjee during inaugural session of newly constituted West Bengal Legislative Assembly in Kolkata (Photo: PTI)

The estimated cost of the project has also increased from Rs 1,300 crore to over Rs 5,000 crore.

Press Trust of India Gangtok

The 52-km-long rail line connecting Sevoke in West Bengal with Rangpo in Sikkim is now projected to be operational by December 2023, Northeast Frontier Railway (NFR) General Manager Anshul Gupta said on Saturday.

Construction of the rail line, which will have six stations, started in 2009 when West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee was the railway minister.

It was initially scheduled to be completed by 2015 but has been facing challenges due to difficult terrain and land-related hiccups, which caused a delay in the project.

The estimated cost of the project has also increased from Rs 1,300 crore to over Rs 5,000 crore.

 

An official of the Indian Railway Construction Company, which is implementing the project, said that 30 per cent of the work has been completed so far.

Gupta had met Sikkim Chief Minister Prem Singh Tamang earlier this week and discussed the ongoing project.

(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

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First Published: Nov 21 2021 | 8:49 AM IST

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