Parliament Question: Augmentation of Pit Line and Yard facilities at Dhanbad Junction

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF RAILWAYS LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 1716 TO BE ANSWERED ON 29.07.2026 AUGMENTATION OF PIT LINE AND YARD FACILITIES AT DHANBAD JUNCTION 1716. SHRI DULU MAHATO: Will the Minister of RAILWAYS be pleased to state: (a) whether Dhanbad Junction is facing acute congestion and operational constraints due to heavy coaching traffic and if so, the details thereof; (b) whether augmentation of pit line and yard facilities have been assessed as necessary to strengthen maintenance capacity and improve train handling and if so, the details thereof; (c) the extent to which such augmentation is expected to ease congestion and provide operational relief to passengers; and (d) the reasons for delay/non-sanction of these works despite repeated passenger demand along with the time-frame by which a final decision is likely to be taken by the Government? ANSWER MINISTER OF RAILWAYS, INFORMATION & BROADCASTING AND ELECTRONICS & INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY (SHRI ASHWINI VAISHNAW) (a) to (d): Dhanbad Junction station is served by 76 passenger trains daily. Also, 50 goods trains ply through the station daily. Presently, following facilities are available at Dhanbad station:  16 Lines, including 04 goods lines.  07 Platforms  02 Sick lines  04 Pit lines  05 Stabling lines § Page 1 of 7To further improve the capacity of passenger and freight trains in the area, following works have been sanctioned: SN Project Status 1. Dhanbad-Sonnagar 3rd The project is sanctioned at a cost of line (291 Km) ₹7,906 Cr. Expenditure of ₹5,694 Cr has been incurred in this project and ₹275 Cr has been allocated in FY 2026-27. Land acquisition has been completed. 206 Km out of 291 km has been commissioned. Works have been taken up in balance sections. 26 Major bridges out of 58 have been completed. Work on balance bridges have been taken up. 489 minor bridges out of 540 have been completed. Work on balance bridges have been taken up. 4 RUBs out of 8 have been completed. Work on balance RUBs have been taken up. 2. Permanent diversion of The project is sanctioned at a cost of ₹475 fire affected Dhanbad- Cr. Expenditure of ₹50 Cr has been Chandrapura line by incurred in this project and ₹120 Cr has Dhanbad- Ispatnagar been allocated in FY 2026-27. line via Telulmari, Land is largely available. However, the Nichitpur, Matari, Telo project is declared as Special Railway Page 2 of 7including Y connection Project and CALA has been appointed for at Dhanbad and taking up required land acquisition. Ispatnagar (28 Km) Works of major, minor bridges, earthwork, formation etc. have been taken up where land is available. 3. Pradhan Kuntha Jn- The project is sanctioned at a cost of ₹349 Pathardih Bazar- Cr. Expenditure of ₹119 Cr has been Bhojudih doubling (17 incurred in the project and ₹103 Cr has Km) been allocated in FY 2026-27. Land Acquisition has been completed. Construction of Earthwork, formation etc. has been taken up. 24 Minor bridges out of 26 have been completed. Work on balance bridges have been taken up. 4. ROR at Gomoh (44 Km) The project is sanctioned at a cost of ₹686 Cr. Expenditure of ₹494 Cr has been incurred in the project and ₹150 Cr has been allocated in FY 2026-27. Land Acquisition has been completed. 2 Major bridges out of 3 have been completed. Work on balance bridge has been taken up. 25 Minor bridges out of 26 have been completed. Work on balance one bridge Page 3 of 7has been taken up. 2 ROBs out of 5 have been completed. Work on balance ROB has been taken up. 8 RUBs out of 9 have been completed. Work on balance RUB has been taken up. Further, to augment the coach handling capacity of the station the work of Enhancement of Coach stabling capacity in Dhanbad yard has been sanctioned at a cost of Rs. 2.88 Cr. This will facilitate placements/withdrawal of trains from Pit-line. The work has been taken up. Pit Lines facilities are planned and executed as per operational and maintenance requirement. Railway Budget: Budget allocation in the recent years has increased significantly. Budget allocation for infrastructure projects falling fully/partly in the State of Jharkhand is as under:- Period Outlay 2009-14 ₹457 Cr./Yr 2026-27 ₹7,536 Cr. (approx. 16 times) Track Construction: The details of constructing new tracks falling fully/partly in the State of Jharkhand is as under:- Period New Track Average Commissioning of new Commissioned tracks 2009-14 287 Km 57 Km/year 2014-26 1,371 Km 114 Km/year (2 times) Page 4 of 7Projects Sanctioned: As on 01.04.2026, 36 projects (10 New Lines and 26 doubling), covering a total length of 2,887 Km, costing ₹60,064 crore falling fully/partly in Jharkhand are sanctioned. The summary is as under:- Category No. of Total Length Total Exp. upto projects Length Commission March, 2026 (in Km) ed till March, (Rs. in Cr.) 2026 (in Km) New Lines 10 753 156 4,853 Doubling/Multi 26 2,133 458 13,558 -tracking Total 36 2,887 615 18,411 Recently Completed Projects: Details of some of the recently completed projects falling fully/partly in the State of Jharkhand are as under: S.No Name of Project Cost (Rs. in . Cr.) 1 Mandarhill- Rampurhat new line (130 Km) 908 2 Giridih-Koderma new line (111 Km) 404 3 Koderma – Ranchi new line (202 Km) 3,800 4 Ranchi-Lohardaga Gauge Conversion (111 Km) 665 5 Sahibganj-Pirpainti Doubling (23 km) 129 6 Tinpahar-Sahebganj Doubling (38 Km) 246 7 Sini-Adityapur Doubling (23 Km) 215 8 Goeilkera-Manoharpur Doubling (28 Km) 425 9 Dongaposi-Rajkharswan 3rd line (75 Km) 629 Page 5 of 710 Danea-Ranchi Road Doubling (25 Km) 324 11 Chakardharpur-Goilkera 3rd line (34 Km) 383 12 Garhwa Road-Ramna doubling (32 Km) 427 13 Manoharpur-Bondamanda 3rd line (30 Km) 359 14 Jarangdih-Danea Patch Doubling (29 km) 500 15 Ranchi Road- Patratu doubling (31 Km) 348 16 Talgaria-Bokaro doubling (38 Km) 514 17 Ramna-Singrauli doubling (160 Km) 2,436 Ongoing Projects: Details of some of the projects falling fully/partly in the State of Jharkhand which have been taken up are as under: S.No Project Cost (Rs. in Cr.) 1 Koderma-Tilaiya new line (62 Km) 2,287 2 Buramara-Chakulia new line (60 Km) 1,459 3 Dhanbad-Sonnagar 3rd line (291 Km) 7,906 4 Bondamunda-Ranchi doubling (159 Km) 3,029 5 Kharagpur-Adityapur 3rd line (132 Km) 3,450 6 Chandil- Burnpur - 3rd line (121 Km) 1,932 7 Koderma-Barkakhana doubling (133 Km) 2,887 8 Bhagalpur-Rampurhat doubling (177 Km) 3,169 9 Gamharia-Chandil 3rd and 4th line (26 Km) 1,168 10 Barbenda-Damrughutu Doubling (52 Km) 815 11 Dangoaposi-Jaroli 3rd & 4th Line (43 Km) 1,638 During last three years (i.e. 2023-2024, 2024-25, 2025-2026 and current Financial Year i.e. 2026-27), total 25 Nos. of Surveys (01 New Line, Page 6 of 724 Doubling) falling fully/partly in the State of Jharkhand having a total length of 908 Km have been sanctioned. Zonal Railway wise details of Railway projects are made available in public domain on Indian Railway’s website. Sanction of any railway project depend upon many parameters/factors which include the following:  Anticipated traffic projections and Remunerativeness of the proposed route  First and last mile connectivity provided by the project  Connection of missing links and providing additional route  Augmentation of congested/saturated lines  Demands raised by State Governments/Central Ministries/Public representatives,  Railway’s own operational requirements  Socio-economic considerations  Overall availability of funds Completion of Railway projects/s depends on various factors which include the following:  Land acquisition by State Government  Forest clearance  Shifting of infringing utilities  Statutory clearances from various authorities  Geological and topographical conditions of area  Law and order situation in the area of project site  Number of working months in a year for particular project site etc. All these factors affect the completion time and cost of the project/s. ***** Page 7 of 7