Parliament Question: Delay in finalisation of fourth railway line between Santragachi and Kharagpur

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF RAILWAYS RAJYA SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 2526 ANSWERED ON 13.03.2026 DELAY IN FINALISATION OF FOURTH RAILWAY LINE BETWEEN SANTRAGACHI AND KHARAGPUR 2526 SHRI SAMIK BHATTACHARYA: Will the Minister of RAILWAYS be pleased to state: (a) whether the proposal for construction of a fourth railway line between Santragachi and Kharagpur on the Howrah–Kharagpur section has been under consideration for several years but remains at the survey/DPR stage; (b) present status of the DPR, including the reasons for its non-finalisation and approval so far; (c) whether land acquisition, forest clearance or coordination with State Government of West Bengal has affected progress of the project; and (d) the timeframe proposed for completion of DPR and commencement of construction, in view of the strategic and economic importance of this route? ANSWER MINISTER OF RAILWAYS, INFORMATION & BROADCASTING AND ELECTRONICS & INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY (SHRI ASHWINI VAISHNAW) (a) to (d): The work of Santragachi - Kharagpur (111 Km) 4th line has been sanctioned. West Bengal Railway Budget: Budget allocation in the recent years has increased significantly. Budget allotment of projects is made commensurate to the progress achieved in any project. Budget allocation for infrastructure projects and safety works, falling fully/partly in the State of West Bengal is as under:- Period Outlay 2009-14 ₹ 4,380 Cr./year 2025-26 ₹ 13,955 Cr. (More than 3 times) …2/- §-2- Project Sanctioned: As on 01.04.2025, 42 projects (12 New Lines, 04 Gauge Conversions and 26 Doubling), of total length of 4402 Km, costing ₹67,991 crore falling fully/partly in the State of West Bengal are sanctioned, out of which, 1702 km length has been commissioned and an expenditure of ₹23,410 crore has been incurred upto March, 2025. The summary is as under: Category No. of Total Length Length Commissioned Total Exp. upto March, projects (in Km) till March, 2025 2025 (in Km) (₹ in Cr.) New Lines 12 1,032 337 11,368 Gauge 4 1,201 854 3,673 Conversion Doubling/M 26 2,169 511 8,370 ulti-tracking Total 42 4,402 1,702 23,410 Recently Completed Projects: Details of some of the recently completed projects falling fully/partly in the State of West Bengal are as under: Cost S. No. Name of Project (₹ in Cr.) 1 Rampurhat-Mandarhill new line and Rampurhat-Murarai 3rd line 1,500 (159 Km) 2 Azimganj-Murshidabad new line (7 Km) 164 3 Bardhaman-Katwa Gauge Conversion (52 Km) 696 4 Ahmedpur-Katwa Gauge Conversion (52 Km) 440 5 Panskura Kharagpur Doubling (45 Km) 408 6 Lalgola – Jiaganj Doubling (23 Km) 124 7 Krishnanagar-Bethuadahari Doubling (28 Km) 152 8 Nabadwipdham-Patuli Doubling (22 Km) 170 9 Bethuadhahari-Plassey Doubling (23 km) 132 10 Ambikakalna-Nabadwipdham Doubling (23 km) 145 11 Nalhati-Sagardighi Doubling (26 km) 193 12 Tamluk Jn.- Basulya Sutahata Doubling (24 km) 245 13 Plassey- Jiaganj Doubling (54 km) 234 ….3/- §-3- Cost S. No. Name of Project (₹ in Cr.) 14 Azimganj-Manigram Doubling (21 km) 150 15 New Coochbehar-Gumanihat Doubling (29 km) 330 16 New Coochbehar-Samuktala Road Doubling (29 km) 445 17 Sainthia-Tarapith 3rd line (22 Km) 186 18 Ambari Falakata-New Maynaguri Doubling (37 km) 843 19 Bandel-Boinchi - 3rd line (31 km) 546 20 Boinchi-Shaktigarh 3rd line (26 km) 424 21 Bazar Sau-Azimganj Jn. Doubling (42 km) 343 22 Sagardighi- Malda Town Doubling (25 Km) 248 23 Kharagpur-Narayangarh 3rd line (24 km) 270 24 Monigram-Nimtita Doubling (24 Km) 713 25 Purulia-Kotshila Doubling (36 Km) 393 Ongoing Projects: Some of the projects falling fully/partly in the State of West Bengal which have been taken up are as under: S. No. Name of Project Cost (₹ in Cr.) 1 Chandil-Purulia-Anara-Damodar 3rd Line(121 Km) 1,932 2 Tarakeshwar-Bishnupur New Line (83 Km) 1,542 3 Sivok-Rangpo New Line (44 Km) 11,973 4 Balurghat-Hilli New Line (30 Km) 1,209 5 Kaliyaganj-Buniadpur New Line (33 Km) 1,147 6 Katihar-Kumedpur and Katihar-Mukuria Doubling (65 Km) 943 7 Kharagpur-Adityapur 3rd line (132 Km) 3,250 8 Narayangarh-Bhadrak 3rd line (153 Km) 2,136 9 Kalipahari-Bakhtarnagar 5th Line (18Km) 350 10 Dankuni-Baltikuri 3rd & 4th line (18 Km) 429 11 Murarai-Barharwa 3rd Line (49 Km) 935 12 Ranaghat-Krishnanagar City 3rd Line (26 Km) 446 13 Aluabari Road-New Jalpaiguri 3rd & 4th Line (57 Km) 1,630 ….4/- §-4 - Land Acquisition: Execution of important infrastructure projects falling fully/partly in the State of West Bengal are held up due to delay in land acquisition. Status of land acquisition in West Bengal is as under: Total Land required 4,662 Ha Land Acquired 1,273 Ha (27%) Balance Land to be acquired 3,389 Ha (73%) Details of some major projects which are delayed due to land acquisition are as under: SN Name of the project Total land Land Balance Land required acquired to be acquired (in Ha) (in Ha) (in Ha) 1. Chandil-Anara- Burnpur - 3rd line 8 0 8 2. Nabadwipghat-Nabadwipdham new line 107 0 107 3. Byepass at Sainthia 22 0 22 4. Naihati – Ranaghat 3rd line 13 0 13 5. Sivok-Rangpo new line 135 128 7 6. Kaliyaganj-Buniadpur new line 168 0 168 7. Canning- Bagankhali new line 18 0 18 8. Adra- Sanka- Rukni doubling 5 0 5 9. Kalipahari-Bakhtarnagar 5th line 15 0 15 10. Rail Flyover at Anara from Rukni to 35 0 35 Anara station 11. Rail Flyover at Gourinathdham end to 34 0 34 Purulia 12. Chandanpur Shaktigarh 4th Line 5 0 5 Further, Tarakeshwar-Bishnupur (83 Km) New Line Project is held up since 2016 due to non- cooperation by state Govt. of West Bengal. The work was stopped by local villagers in about 900 m length near “Bhabadighi” pond in Hooghly district. Honourable High Court, Kolkata in March, 2025 directed State Govt of WB to provide all necessary support and deploy adequate police force to enable the Railways to commence the work within 3 months. Deshpran -Nandigram (18.5 km) Line was sanctioned in 2009-10 at cost of ₹ 121.44 crores. The entire Project length is located in East Midnapore District. The project could not progress due to problems in land acquisition and was kept in abeyance. In April 2023 it was decided to re-start the work. However, Survey for Land Acquisition from Deshpran to 5.0 Km could not be completed due to law and order issues. As Deshpran is the connecting station, acquisition of this land is essential for commissioning of this project. ….5/- §-5- Several meetings have been held with officials of Government of West Bengal for land acquisition for the above projects. Kolkata Metro: Metro project in Kolkata started in 1972. The details of the Metro commissioned since then are as under: Period Metro Commissioned 1972 to 2014 (42 years) 28 km 2014 to 2025 (11 years) 45 km The details of Metro Corridors commissioned are as under: S.No. Metro Corridor Section Commissioned Kavi Subash – Noapara (28 Km) This Corridor commissioned before year 2014 1 (Blue Line) (This required about 42 years to complete) Noapara – Dakshineswar (4.14 Km) This Corridor commissioned in 2020-21 2 (Extension of Blue Line) Noapara – Jaihind Airport - Barasat (18 Noapara – Jaihind Airport section (6.77 Km) 3 Km) (Yellow Line) Commissioned in 2025-26 Joka – Majerhat - Esplanade (14 KM) Joka – Majerhat section (7.74 Km) 4 (Purple Line) Commissioned in stages from 2022 to 2024 New Garia - Belaghata - Dumdum Airport New Garia – Belaghata (9.8 Km) 5 (32 Km) Commissioned in stages between 2023-26 (Orange Line) Howrah Maidan – Salt Lake Sec. V (16.55 This Corridor commissioned in stages from 6 Km) (Green Line) 2019 to 2025 Further, work pertaining to 4 Metro corridors at total length of about 52 km is under progress, out of which 20 km of work is held up due to land acquisition and utility shifting issues pertaining to State Government. In the rest of the Metro stretch, though the work is in progress yet facing difficulties due to one or other reasons at the end of State Government. Details are as below: (i) Noapara – Jaihind Airport - Barasat (18 km): Noapara - Jai Hind Airport (6.77 km) has been commissioned and work from Jai Hind Airport to Michael Nagar is in progress. However, work from New Barrackpore to Barasat (7.5 km) is held up due to land acquisition and encroachment issues by State authorities. ….6/- §-6- SN Location Issues 1. New Barrackpore to  Land acquisition (23,000 sq. m) and removal of heavy Barasat encroachments (1277 hutments, 764 shops) are involved in this section.  The matter is not yet resolved by Government of West Bengal (GoWB). (ii) Joka –Majerhat - Esplanade (14 km):- Joka - Majerhat (7.74 km) has been commissioned and balance work from Majerhat to Esplanade (6.26 km) has been taken up. However, progress of the work is affected due to the following issues: SN Location Issues 1. Khidderpur Metro  For utility shifting and road traffic diversion, 837 sqm Station permanent and 1,702 sqm temporary land of State Government (Kolkata Armed Police) is required. The proposal of this land was sent to State Government on 24.08.2020.  Several meetings were held with officials of Government of West Bengal (GoWB) for transfer of above land.  After lot of persuasion, State Government finally accorded approval in July 2025 only after almost 5 years. 2. Dr. B.C. Roy  For construction of Esplanade Metro Station, temporary Market shifting of unauthorised 528 Shops at B.C. Roy Market on Defence land is required.  The proposal for NOC of temporary/permanent shifting of these shops was submitted to State Government in February 2022. Shops for temporary shifting of these unauthorized shops have also been constructed by Railway.  The State Government has been requested to facilitate shifting. Regular follow up with State PWD is also being done.  Issue is pending for more than 3.5 years. ….7/- §-7- (iii) New Garia –Belaghata - Dum Dum Airport (32 km): New Garia - Belaghata (9.8 km) has been commissioned and balance work from Belaghata to Dum Dum Airport (22.2 km) has been taken up. However, progress of the work is affected due to the following issues: SN Location Issues 1. Chingrighata  Temporary traffic diversion at Chingrighata crossing for Crossing (Between launching of viaduct segments is required for 3 nights each Beleghata – Gour on either side of the road (8 hours on every night). Kishore Ghosh  The proposal was submitted to Government of West Bengal stations) (GoWB) in December 2024.  The diversion road as desired by Kolkata traffic police has already been constructed in February 2025.  Since then, several meetings have been held with various State Government and Kolkata police officials for NOC.  The NOC is still awaited even after about 12 months. (iv) Baranagar - Barrackpore - Dakshineshwar (14.5 km): Baranagar - Dakshineshwar (2 km) has been commissioned and balance work from Baranagar to Barrackpore (12.5 km) is held up due to pending utility shifting in the alignment by state government authorities. The details are as below: SN Location Issues 1. Baranagar  The original alignment along the B.T road was agreed in 2011 to Barrackpore as per MoU among Metro Railway, RVNL and Kolkata Municipal Corporation.  As per MoU, existing pipeline was to be replaced by new 64- inch diameter pipeline by the State Government.  Shifting of this pipeline was completed in 2012.  However, NOC is still awaited from Government of West Bengal. Government of India is geared up to execute projects, however success depends upon the support of Government of West Bengal. ….8/- §-8- Sanction of any railway project depends 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 operational requirements  Socio-economic considerations  Overall availability of funds Completion of Railway project/s depends on various factors which include the following:  Land acquisition  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. ***** §