Inside India’s first underground railway station! Indian Railways to construct state-of-art ‘Teesta Bazar’ station on Sivok-Rangpo rail line

In a pioneering initiative, the Indian Railways is building the country’s first underground railway station in West Bengal’s Teesta Bazar. 

The construction of India’s inaugural underground railway station is underway as part of the Sivok-Rangpo railway project. The first-of-its-kind project is aimed at enhancing connectivity between West Bengal and Sikkim, which also marks the introduction of railways in the northeastern state. 

“Teesta Bazar station comes under tunnel number seven. The platform’s length is 620 meters, while the entire tunnel measures 650 meters. We would be able to accommodate a full-length train in this tunnel,” Project Director Mohinder Singh said to ANI.

We have incorporated adequate measures for passenger ventilation, and we have six excess tunnels for emergencies, Singh added. 

“In Indian Railways’ broad gauge network, this will be the first underground railway station. Teesta Bazar station is very important because it connects Darjning to Gangtok so it could be convenient for passengers who want to go to Draining or Gangtok, the Project director added

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is slated to lay the foundation stone and inaugurate around 2,000 railway infrastructure projects worth more than Rs 41,000 crores today at around 12:30 PM via video conferencing.

Understanding the relevance of Sivok-Rangpo project 

With 22 bridges and 14 tunnels in the himalayan geography, the Sivok (West Bengal) – Rangpo (Sikkim) rail project is one of the engineering marvels. The rail line is 44.96 km long, of which 41.55 km length falls in West Bengal and 3.41 km comes in Sikkim. 

Of the total 44.96 km length, 38.65 km (86%) comprises tunnels, 2.24 km (5%) bridges, and 4.79 km (9%) open cutting/filling of station yards. 

As per the project director Mohinder Singh, the project is 60-65% completed, with track work starting next month. The line includes 14 tunnels, the longest at 5.30 km and the shortest at 538 meters.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will lay the foundation stone for Sikkim’s first railway station viz Rangpo station today, the railways official informed. With this introduction, Sikkim will now be connected with a railway line. 

A last mile milestone

It is noteworthy that Sikkim is a standalone Indian state without a railway station. The region has relied on road connectivity and minimal air travel until now. 

The project’s foundation stone was laid in West Bengal’s Sivok, by the minister of railways and in Sikkim’s Rangpo by the Vice President of India on October 30, 2009.

The proposed railway line includes five stations viz Sivok and Rangpo, with four open crossing stations (Sivok, Riyang, Melli, Rangpo) and one underground halt station (Teesta Bazar).

“Sivok is the alignment of the Assam link project. This is 26 km away from Siliguri railway station. After this project, we are upgrading the Sivok station,” Project director Mohinder Singh said,

Interestingly, the tunneling, which is about 86% of the total length, is constructed by the latest technique called NATM (New Austrian Tunnelling Method). The work of this project is supervised by international consultants so that safety and quality are ensured.