Parliament Question: Baidyanath Dham to Pashupatinath Dham Rail Project

O.I.H GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF RAILWAYS RAJYA SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 3307 ANSWERED ON 20.03.2026 BAIDYANATH DHAM TO PASHUPATINATH DHAM RAIL PROJECT 3307# PROF. MANOJ KUMAR JHA: Will the Minister of RAILWAYS be pleased to state: (a) whether Government is considering to approve the Baidyanath Dham to Pashupatinath Dham (via Bhagalpur-Singheshwar Dham-Bhimnagar) rail project, if so, the progress made so far; and (b) if not, whether the Ministry is considering to approve the Bhagalpur to Bhimnagar via Naugachia- Udakishunganj-Singheshwar-Bhimnagar rail project? ANSWER MINISTER OF RAILWAYS, INFORMATION & BROADCASTING AND ELECTRONICS & INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY (SHRI ASHWINI VAISHNAW) (a) and (b): Baidyanathdham is an existing railway station on Indian Railway Network and is connected to Bhagalpur via Jasidih Jn and Barahat Jn. Singheshwar Dham is served by Dauram Madhepura railway station (about 10 Km away from Singheshwar). Pashupatinath Dham is located outside India in Kathmandu, Nepal. Nearest Railway station is Raxaul, which is well connected with railway network. Final Location Survey of Raxaul (India)-Kathmandu (Pashupatinath) new line (136 Km) has been completed and Detailed Project Report (DPR) prepared. After preparation of Detailed Project Report (DPR), sanctioning of project requires consultation with various stake-holders including State Governments and necessary approvals viz. appraisal of NITI Aayog, Ministry of Finance etc. As sanctioning of projects is a continuous and dynamic process, exact timelines depends upon appraisals and approvals by various stakeholders. Dauram Madhepura-Singheshwar Asthan-Bhimnagar-Pratapganj feasibility study was carried out. The project could not be taken up due to low traffic projection. To improve connectivity of Baidyanathdham and Bhagalpur with Northern Bihar region including Naugachia, Udakishunganj, Singheshwar and Bhimnagar, Bikramshila-Katareah new rail line (26 km) project alongwith construction of a Bridge across River Ganga and Kursela-Bihariganj new line project has been taken up.Bihar Railway Budget: Budget allocation for Infrastructure projects and safety works, falling fully/partly in the State of Bihar is as under: Period Outlay ₹1,132 Cr./year 2009-14 ₹10,066 Cr. (Nearly 9 times) 2025-26 Track construction: The details of commissioning/laying of new track falling fully/partly in the State of Bihar during 2009- 14 and 2014-25 is as under :- Period New Track Commissioned Average Commissioning of new tracks 318 Km 63.6 Km/year 2009-14 1,899 Km 172.6 Km/year (More than 2.5 times) 2014-25 Projects sanctioned: As on 01.04.2025, 52 projects (31 New Lines, 01 Gauge Conversions and 20 Doubling), of a total length of 4,663 km, costing ₹86,107 crore, falling fully/partly in Bihar, are sanctioned, out of which 1,014 km length has been commissioned and an expenditure of ₹29,353 crore has been incurred upto March’ 2025. The summary is as under:- Length No of Total Length Total Exp upto Commissioned till Category sanctioned NL/GC/DL Mar'25 Mar'25 Projects (in Km) (₹ in Cr) (in Km) New Lines 31 2,691 516 16,814 Gauge Conversion 1 69 52 544 Doubling/Multi- 20 1,904 446 11,995 tracking Total 52 4,663 1,014 29,353 Recently completed projects: Details of some of the recently completed projects falling fully/partly in Bihar are as under:- SN. Project Length Cost (Km) (In Crores of Rs) 1 Patna rail cum road Bridge 28 3,210 2 Munger rail cum road Bridge 15 3,0403 Kosi Bridge 22 863 4 Daniawan-Biharsharif New Line 38 354 5 Chandan-Banka New Line 40 496 6 Rampurhat-Mandarhill New Line 130 908 7 Maharajganj-Masrakh New Line 35 412 8 Rajgir-Tilaiya & Natesar-lslampur New Line 67 726 9 Mansi-Saharsa-Purnia Gauge Conversion 141 752 10 Jaynagar-Narkatiaganj Gauge Conversion 260 967 11 Kaptanganj-Chhapra Gauge Conversion 234 819 12 Sakri-Nirmali & Saharasa-Forbesganj Gauge Conversion 206 2,113 13 Mansi-Saharsa, Saharsa-Purnia & Banmakhi- Bihariganj 169 752 Gauge Conversion 14 Sahibganj-Pirpainti Doubling 23 129 15 Maheshkunt-Thanabihpur Doubling 32 115 16 Hajipur-Ramdayalu Nagar Doubling 48 367 17 Pirpainti-Bhagalpur Doubling 51 493 18 Bakhtiyarpur-Barh Doubling 19 237 19 Kiul-Gaya Doubling 124 2,462 20 Hajipur-Bachwara Doubling 72 930 21 Darbhanga bypass 9 253 22 Araria-Galgalia (Thakurganj) New Line 110 2,132 23 Saraigarh Byepass line 5 79 24 Chhapra-Chhapra Kacheri 3rd line 3 33 Ongoing projects: Some of the projects falling fully/partly in the State of Bihar which have been taken up are as under: SN. Project Length (Km) Cost (Rs. in Cr.) 1 Sakri-Hasanpur new line 76 735 2 Khagaria-Kusheshwarsthan New line 42 1,511 3 Fatuha-lslampur new line 167 2,882 4 Koderma-Tilaiya new line 65 1,980 5 Hajipur-Sagauli new line 151 2,702 6 Araria-Supaul new line 96 1,925 7 Kursela-Bihariganj new line 58 194 8 Bikramshila-Katareah new line 26 2,171 9 Jhajha-Batia new line 20 588 10 Pirpainti-Jassidih new line 97 2,611 11 Chhitauni-Tumkuhi Road new line 59 1,73112 Jalalgarh-Kishanganj new line 51 360 13 Jogbani-Biratnagar (Nepal) new line 19 402 14 Darbhanga-Kusheshwarasthan new line 70 367 15 Motihari-Sitamarhi new line 77 1,007 16 Sitamarhi-Nirmali new line 189 2,833 17 Nawada-Laxmipur new line 137 3,121 18 Ara-Bhabua Road new line 150 2,397 19 Gaya-Daltonganj new line 137 2,861 20 Muzaffarpur-Darbhanga new line 69 282 21 Muzaffarpur-Janakpur Road new line 67 228 22 Dehri on Sone-Banjari new line 35 111 23 Chhapra-Muzzafarpur new line 78 1,894 24 Bihta-Aurangabad new line 120 2,995 25 Gaya-Chatra and Gaya-Natesar new line 135 4,543 26 Deogarh-Sultanganj new line incl.Banka-Barahat and 154 665 Banka-Bhitiah Road 27 Sultanganj-Katuria new line 77 291 28 Bariarpur-Mananpur new line 68 251 29 Hathua-Bhatni new line 80 318 30 Aurangabad Terminal-Anugrah Narayan Road new 13 441 line 31 Nawadah-Pawapuri New line 25 492 32 Jaynagar-Bijalpura Gauge conversion 69 790 33 Dhanbad-Sonnagar 3rd line 291 7,906 34 Samastipur-Darbhanga Doubling 38 826 35 Rampur Dumra-Tal-Rajendra Pul-Additional bridge 14 2,535 and Doubling 36 Sagauli-Valmikinagar Doubling 110 1,456 37 Gaya Bye pass for Manpur 2 30 38 Muzaffarpur-Sugauli Doubling 101 1,586 39 Barauni-Bachwara 3rd & 4th line 32 486 40 Sonenagar bye pass(Chiralapothu to Bagha 10 224 Bishunpur) 41 Narkatiaganj-Darbhanga& Sitamarhi-Muzaffarpur 256 4,080 Doubling 42 Chhapra-Ballia Patch Doubling 65 1,046 43 Gorakhpur-Valmikinagar Doubling 96 1,121 44 Katihar-Kumedpur and Katihar-Mukuria Doubling 65 943 45 Bhadaura Station and Karma Station Surface Triangle 11 200 Line 46 ROR at Sasaram connecting GC to Ara-Sasaram Line 9 470 47 Ara Bye pass Line to be connected from Jagjivan Halt 3 119to existing ARA-Sasaram line through link cabin (Y- Connectivity at Ara) 48 Son Nagar-Andal Multitracking 749 12,334 49 Bulb line at Nabinagar (Ankorha) 17 612 50 Punarakh- Barh-Bhaktiyarpur New 4th line & balance 28 422 3rd line 51 Sanjaygram to Dhachna By Pass line 2 34 52 Aluabari Road-Thakurganj Doubling 20 327 53 Aluabari Road-New Jalpaiguri 3rd & 4th Line 57 1,630 54 Bhagalpur-Jamalpur 3rd Line 53 1,156 55 Bhagalpur-Dumka-Rampurh at Doubling 177 3,169 56 Bakhtiyarpur-Rajgir-Tilaiya Doubling 104 2,192 57 Bakthiyarpur-Fatuha 3rd and 4th line 24 931 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 project/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. *****