14 Trains from (SVQ)SIVOK to (APDJ)ALIPUR DUAR JN

Maligaon, 17^th May, 2023:

Northeast Frontier Railway (NFR) has been continuously striving to provide a safer, faster and more comfortable travelling experience to the people of the North Eastern region. For that the conventional ICF model rake of train no. 02502/02501 (Agartala – Kolkata - Agartala) special has been converted to a fully Air Conditioned LHB (Linke Hofmann Busch)rake. The train with LHB coaches was flagged off o­n 17^th May, 2023 from Agartala Railway Station at 07:30 hrs by Kumari Pratima Bhoumik, Hon’ble Union Minister of State for Social Justice and Empowerment. Shri Prem Ranjan Kumar, Divisional Railway Manager, Lumding along with other senior officials of division were also present at Agartala Railway Station during the flagging off ceremony.

The train no. 02502 (Agartala - Kolkata) special will depart from Agartala o­n every Wednesday for eight trips from 17^th May to 05^thJuly, 2023 at 07:30 hours to reach Kolkata at 15:00 hours o­n the next day. In return direction, train no. 02501 (Kolkata – Agartala) special will depart from Kolkata o­n every Sunday for eight trips from 21^st May to 09^thJuly, 2023 at 21:40 hours to reach Agartala at 05:15 hours o­n Tuesday.

During it’s both ways journey, the special train will run via New Karimganj Jn., New Haflong, Guwahati, Goalpara Town, New Alipurduar, New Jalpaiguri Jn, Kishanganj, Malda Town, Azimganj Jn and Bandel Jn. The train will run with a revised composition consisting of 13 LHB coaches. It will have eleven state of the art AC-3 Economy Class coaches for the convenience of the passengers with two Luggage cum Generator coaches.

The newly converted coaches will be of LHB rake with AC-3 Economy coaches which is safer and more comfortable as compared to the earlier ICF coaches. These coaches have improved and modular design of seats and berth. The AC-3 Economy has 2 side berths, making it a total of 8 berths per compartment, thereby leading to increased number of seats. Moreover, the fare structure for AC-3 Economy is roughly 8% lesser than 3 AC coaches. So, passengers can travel in much cheaper than 3 AC coaches.

Further, the services of train no. 02518/02517 (Guwahati – Kolkata – Guwahati) has been extended for another eight trips. The train no. 02518 (Guwahati - Kolkata) special will depart from Guwahati o­n every Saturday for eight trips from 20^th May to 08^th July, 2023 at 21:00 hours to reach Kolkata at 15:00 hours o­n the next day. In return direction, train no. 02517 (Kolkata – Guwahati) special will depart from Kolkata o­n every Thursday for eight trips from 18^th May to 06^th July, 2023 at 21:40 hours to reach Guwahati at 16:15 hours o­n the next day.

The details of stoppages and timings of these trains are available at IRCTC website and through NTES and are also being notified in various newspapers and social media platforms of N.F. Railway. Passengers are requested to verify the details before undertaking their journey.

Tunnelno.T-14of the Sivok - RangpoRailProject(SRRP) has achieved another milestone by completing the final Concrete lining o­n 15^th May, 2023.Last year, the milestone of breakthrough of this tunnel was achieved and completion of final concrete lining is a marvellous achievement by the Engineers involved in this project.

In March 2023, the Hon’ble Minister of Railways, Communications, Electronics and Information Technology Shri Ashwini Vaishnaw also inspected this tunnel and appreciated the work. Finally, the auspicious occasion of completion of final concrete lining is marked as a significant event in the history of this project.

This tunnel is the gateway of railway network to the State of Sikkim. The tunnel is about 1977 m long and is situated in the Rangpo Sub-Division of District Pakyong, Sikkim. This tunnel has achieved the credit of being the first in completion of final concrete lining out of 14 tunnels of the Project. The tunnel is located in between Kumrek and Khanikhola in East Sikkim region and traverses through challenging geological conditions of the Lesser Himalaya. New Austrian Tunnelling Method (NATM) has been adopted for the completion of tunnel through challenging and vulnerable groundmass with the supervisions of well experienced engineers from India along with highly experienced foreign engineers in this project. The track linking works will be next activity going to start through this tunnel very soon. Rangpo Station situated just after the Tunnel No. T-14 is also under construction and o­n completion will be a commercial and tourism hub for the State of Sikkim. This railway project will enhance the standard of socio-economic status of the state.

This New Rail Link Project from Sivok to Rangpo is about 45 kms long and is characterised by 14 nos. tunnels, 22 nos. bridges and 5 nos. stations including an underground station at Teesta Bazar, W.B. About 38 kms of the entire project alignment is passing through tunnels, about 76% of tunnelling work has already been completed. The mining work at 6 tunnels already completed and many are o­n the verge of completion of mining. The final concrete lining works at other tunnels have also started. At present all the activities related to construction of tunnels, bridges and stations o­n this project are in progress o­n war footing basis and targeted to complete by December, 2024. This is o­ne of theprestigiousongoingNationalprojectsinIndiaandoncompletionofthisproject,firsttimethe stateofSikkimwillbeconnectedvia railways.