Sivok-Rangpo Railway Line, a 44.96 km long

broad gauge A broad-gauge railway is a railway with a track gauge (the distance between the rails) broader than the used by standard-gauge railways. Broad gauge of , more known as Russian gauge, is the dominant track gauge in former Soviet Union countries ...

line connecting the Indian states of

West Bengal West Bengal (; Bengali language, Bengali: , , abbr. WB) is a States and union territories of India, state in the East India, eastern portion of India. It is situated along the Bay of Bengal, along with a population of over 91 million inhabi ...

( Sivok railway station on New Jalpaiguri–Alipurduar–Samuktala Road line near

Siliguri Siliguri (, ; ), also known as Shiliguri, is a major Tier ii cities in india, tier-II city in West Bengal. It forms the twin cities, Twin Cities with the neighbouring city of Jalpaiguri. The city spans areas of the Darjeeling district, Darjeel ...

in Darjeeling district) and

Sikkim Sikkim ( ; ) is a States and union territories of India, state in northeastern India. It borders the Tibet Autonomous Region of China in the north and northeast, Bhutan in the east, Koshi Province of Nepal in the west, and West Bengal in the ...

(

Rangpo Railway Station Rangpo railway station is an under-construction railway station at Khanikhola , Majitar lying on Sevoke-Rangpo Railway Line in Pakyong District of Sikkim. Its code is RNGPO. It will serve Rangpo city, and three districts of Sikkim, which are ...

in Pakyong District), is currently under construction.North East to get better Indian Railways connectivity! 5 major rail projects lined up
Financial Express, July 17, 2020. The railway line is strategically important for the national security and socio-economic develop, as the line will help troops and armaments move faster towards the Indo-Tibet border. In the second phase and third phase, this line will be extended eastward to

Gangtok Gangtok (, ) is the capital and the most populous city of the Indian state of Sikkim. The seat of East Sikkim district, eponymous district, Gangtok is in the eastern Himalayas, Himalayan range, at an elevation of . The city's population of 100 ...

(capital of Sikkim) and then to the

Nathu La Nathu La(, Sikkimese language, Sikkimese: རྣ་ཐོས་ལ་) is a mountain pass in the Dongkya Range of the Himalayas between China's Yadong County in Tibet, and the Indian states of Sikkim. But minor touch of Bengal in South Asia. T ...

pass (on Sikkim's eastern border with

Tibet Tibet (; ''Böd''; ), or Greater Tibet, is a region in the western part of East Asia, covering much of the Tibetan Plateau and spanning about . It is the homeland of the Tibetan people. Also resident on the plateau are other ethnic groups s ...

). A separate fork from

Melli Melli (also spelled Malli) is a town on the West Bengal-Sikkim border near the River Teesta. The town consists of two markets, one lying on NH10 in Kalimpong district of West Bengal and the other in Namchi district of Sikkim. Melli Railw ...

will be extended towards west to Dentam.

Route

Nearest junction towards the mainland India is at

New Jalpaiguri New Jalpaiguri Junction railway station (station code NJP) established in 1960, is an A1 category broad-gauge and narrow-gauge railway station under Katihar railway division of Northeast Frontier Railway zone. It is the largest and the busiest ...

, 30 km from Sevoke via

Details

Features

Construction

In October 2009, the foundation stone for construction was laid by the vice president of India. In May 2010, IRCON was awarded the contract for construction. Project has seen multiple delays, and the target completion date was extended several times, i.e. to December 2023 in November 2021, to August 2025 in May 2024, to December 2027 in January 2025.

Wildlife and environmental approval

The line traverses through

Mahananda Wildlife Sanctuary Mahananda Wildlife Sanctuary (Pron: móhɑ́nɑ́ndaa) is located on the foothills of the Himalayas, between the Teesta River, Teesta and Mahananda River, Mahananda rivers. Situated in the Darjeeling district of West Bengal, India; it comes unde ...

in the foothills of

Kangchenjunga Kangchenjunga is the third-highest mountain in the world. Its summit lies at in a section of the Himalayas, the ''Kangchenjunga Himal'', which is bounded in the west by the Tamur River, in the north by the Lhonak River and Jongsang La, and ...

montain range of

Himalayas The Himalayas, or Himalaya ( ), is a mountain range in Asia, separating the plains of the Indian subcontinent from the Tibetan Plateau. The range has some of the Earth's highest peaks, including the highest, Mount Everest. More than list of h ...

, Darjeeling Forest Division, Kurseong Forest Division, Kalimpong Forest Division of West Bengal and Pakyong District Forest Division of Sikkim, runs parallel to

Teesta River Teesta River is a long river that rises in the Pauhunri Mountain of eastern Himalayas, flows through the Indian states of Sikkim and West Bengal and subsequently enters Bangladesh through Rangpur division. In Bangladesh, it merges with Jamu ...

and crosses

Rangpo River River Rangpo is a river in the Indian state of Sikkim. A major tributary of the Teesta River, it originates from Menmecho Lake near Dzuluk and flows through Rongli and Pakyong subdivision villages in Pakyong District towards Rorathang, Ku ...

. It connects villages and towns, such as the

Kalijhora Kalijhora is an urban village in the Kalimpong I CD block that lies on the bank of River Teesta, in the Kalimpong Sadar subdivision of the Kalimpong district in the state of West Bengal, India. National Highway 10 connecting Siliguri and Ga ...

, Birik daara, Lohapul,

Rambi Bazar Rambi Bazar is an urban village lying near Teesta River in the Kalimpong I Community development blocks in India, CD block in the Kalimpong Sadar subdivision of the Kalimpong district in the state of West Bengal, India. The town lies on the Nat ...

, Gailkhola, Teesta Bazaar, Chitrey, Melli, Kirnay, Tarkhola, Chanatar,

Rangpo Rangpo is a Municipal town in Pakyong district in the Indian state of Sikkim. The town borders West Bengal's Kalimpong district and is situated along the Teesta river and Rangpo River. It is the first town of Sikkim lying on National Highway ...

and Khanikhola,

Majitar Majitar is the fastest growing urban village in Pakyong District in the Indian state of Sikkim. The nearest towns are Rangpo ( away) and Singtam (). Location It is about above sea level giving it a sub-tropical climate. Majitar lies on the ...

. By 2013, the route alignment was not finalised due to lack of wildlife and environmental approval as the first 22 km through the forested elephant sanctuary. In February 2013, the railways made a proposal to the environment and forest ministry that railway will install elephant sensors along the stretch of the proposed railway line in Mahananda elephant sanctuary or run the trains at a speed of only 20 km per hour in the forest area and stop when an elephant is sighted close to the track. Delays caused the cost overruns, compared to the original year 2008 estimates of Rs.13.4 billion. In February 2016,

Supreme Court of India The Supreme Court of India is the supreme judiciary of India, judicial authority and the supreme court, highest court of the Republic of India. It is the final Appellate court, court of appeal for all civil and criminal cases in India. It also ...

approved the project with strict guidelines of the National Wildlife Board which had cleared the project in June 2015, but ordered restricted speed, wireless animal tracking sensors and allowed digging of tunnels only during daytime.

Extensions and spurs

Rangpo-Gangtok line

''Rangpo-Gangtok line'': In the second phase, Sivok-Rangpo line the line will be extended from Rangpo to

Gangtok-Nathu La line

''Gangtok-Nathu La line'': In March 2023, the Indian Railways Minister

Ashwini Vaishnaw Ashwini Vaishnaw (born 18 July 1970) is an Indian politician, former Indian Administrative Service, IAS officer and a businessman serving as the 39th Minister of Railways (India), Minister of Railways, the 35th Ministry of Information and Broad ...

confirmed the plans to extend the line, to Gangtok in next phase, and to

at the border to

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

in the subsequent phase.

Melli-Dentam line

''Melli-Dentam line'' via

Jorethang Jorethang is a major town in Namchi district in the Indian state of Sikkim. Jorethang lies on the bank of Rangeet River, which is a tributary of the Teesta River, on the way to Pelling from Darjeeling, Siliguri and Kalimpong. Jorethang is ...

and

Legship Legship is a small town in Gyalshing district of the Indian State of Sikkim. Legship is the gateway to Gyalshing City. It is located on the main road connecting Gyalshing with the rest of the state, on the banks of the river Rangit. The place ...

: Final Location Survey (FLS) was commissioned by the Indian Railway in May 2025 at the cost of INR2.5 cr. New rail line from southcentral Sikkim to West Sikkim will fork from the Melli junction in Southcentral Sikkim on Sivok–Rangpo line (which runs from Southcentral Sikkim to East Sikkim).Indian Railways Approves Survey for New Sikkim Railway Line
urbanacres.in, 12 May 2025.

Yadong-Sikkim line

Shigatse-Yadong-Sikkim line: a 460 km standard gauge 120-160 km/h railway to link Yadong on Indo-Chinese border with current railhead Shigatse Railway Station, Tibet, and possibly onward with break of gauge (

) and continuing to Sikkim and beyond, subject to the India-China geopolitics with trans-shipment land ports is proposed. This line may share a good part of its routing with China-Nepal railway towards Gyirong and

Kathmandu Kathmandu () is the capital and largest city of Nepal, situated in the central part of the country within the Kathmandu Valley. As per the 2021 Nepal census, it has a population of 845,767 residing in 105,649 households, with approximately 4 mi ...

. Following 2020 China–India skirmishes, China seems keen to hasten Tibet rail projects.

Current status

* 2022 Sept: 55% of 14 main tunnels (22 km out of 39 km tunnel route) and 40% of 13 major bridges were complete. * 2025 Jan: Revised completion date moved to December 2027.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sivok-Rangpo line Alipurduar railway division Railway stations in Kalimpong district Railway stations in Pakyong district Railway stations in Sikkim Proposed infrastructure in Sikkim Proposed infrastructure in West Bengal 5 ft 6 in gauge railways in India Transport in Sikkim