With China developing infrastructure on its side of the Sino-Indian border at a breakneck pace, India has decided to connect the strategically located Sikkim with the rest of the country through a railway line.

Railways will start construction of the 52.7 km stretch connecting Sevoke in West Bengal to Rangpo in Sikkim soon.

Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee is expected to lay the foundation stone for the project, which has already been declared a national project, on October 30 at Rangpo. Vice-President Hamid Ansari will also accompany her.

While the larger plan is to eventually connect Sikkim’s capital Gangtok with a railway line, the Sevoke-Rangpo link is crucial given the fact that it will put Sikkim on the country’s rail map. Also, once the line till Rangpo is constructed, it will be extended to connect Gangtok. A survey is currently on to connect the 60 km stretch between Rangpo and Gangtok.

The Sevoke-Rangpo link will be a broadgauge line and will cost approximately Rs 1, 339.48 crore, that is, a unit cost of construction of around Rs 25.42 crore per km. The project will be executed by the Northeast Frontier Railways (NFR). Trains are expected to run on the line by 2015-16.

Railways will provide 25 per cent funding for the project from its Gross Budgetary Support and the remaining 75 per cent will be provided by the Finance Ministry.