Track laying work for the new Sevoke – Rangpo railway line is scheduled to begin in June 2024. The project for the first railway connection in the Indian state of Sikkim is part of the Indian government's infrastructure plan to connect the capitals of the eight states in the northeast (Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Tripura, and Sikkim) to the national railway network. Until now, the regions were only connected to the rest of India via the Siliguri corridor. Sikkim is now the last state to be connected. Ircon International, a subsidiary of the Indian state railway IR, is building the 45 km long line, which branches off from the New Jalpaiguri – Alipurduar – Samuktala Road line in Sevoke and runs to Rangpo in the Sikkim district of Pakyong. The cost of the expansion is estimated at around €1.35 billion (INR 121.3 billion), and completion is planned for August 2025. Two further extensions are also planned, from Rangpo via Singthan and Ranipool to Gangtok, and from Gangtok to Nathula on the border with China.
