Parliament Question: Expansion of Railway Network across Country

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF RAILWAYS LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 791 TO BE ANSWERED ON 04.02.2026 EXPANSION OF RAILWAY NETWORK ACROSS COUNTRY 791. SHRI THARANIVENTHAN M S: SMT. MANJU SHARMA: Will the Minister of RAILWAYS be pleased to state: (a) whether the Government has received proposals from various States for the expansion of the railway network; (b) if so, the details of such proposals received during the last five years, State/UT-wise; (c) the details of the action taken or proposed to be taken by the Government on these proposals; (d) the details of proposals related to the expansion of the railway network across the country including new routes planned or under-consideration; (e) the criteria used by the Government to identify areas or routes without railway network and the manner in which regional connectivity gaps are addressed in this process; (f) whether there is any plan to enhance railway connectivity to rural and remote areas currently deprived of railway facilities in Rajasthan and Tamil Nadu, if so, the details thereof; and (g) the steps taken by the Government for the expansion of the railway network in the North Western Railway zone and Southern Railways? ANSWER MINISTER OF RAILWAYS, INFORMATION & BROADCASTING AND ELECTRONICS & INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY (SHRI ASHWINI VAISHNAW) (a) to (g): Railway projects are surveyed /sanctioned/executed Zonal Railway wise and not State-wise /District wise as the Railway projects may span across State/district boundaries. ..P/2-:2:- As on 01.04.2025, across Indian Railways, 431 Railway infrastructure projects (154 New Line, 33 Gauge Conversion and 244 Doubling) of total length 35,966 Km, costing approx. 6.75 lakh crore are sanctioned. The summary is as under:- Total Length Total Exp upto No of Length Commissioned Category Mar'25 Projects NL/GC/DL till Mar'25 ( in Cr) (km) (Km) New Lines 154 16,142 3,036 1,45,318 Gauge 33 4,180 2,997 22,753 Conversion Doubling / 244 15,644 6,736 1,22,858 Multitracking Total 431 35,966 12,769 2,90,929 Zone-wise/year-wise details of all Railway projects are made available in public domain on Indian Railway’s website. The details of commissioning/laying of new track across Indian Railways is given below:- New track Average commissioning of new tracks Period Commissioned 2009-14 7,599 Km 4.2 Km/day 2014-25 34,428 Km 8.6 Km/day (more than 2 times) ..P/3-:3:- During the last 05 years i.e. FY 2020-21, 2021-22, 2022-23, 2023-24, 2024-25 and in current FY 2025-26, 290 projects (New Line, Gauge Conversion and Doubling) of total length 13,176 Km costing approx. Rs.2,60,756 Crore have been sanctioned across Indian Railways. Furthermore, during this period, 1,048 surveys (325 New Line, 15 Gauge Conversion & 708 Doubling) of total length 71,611 Km have been sanctioned. Rajasthan: Railway projects in Rajasthan are covered by North Western Railway (NWR), North Central Railway (NCR), Northern Railway (NR), Western Railway (WR) zone of Indian Railways. Budget allocation in the recent years has increased significantly. Budget allocation for infrastructure projects and safety works, falling fully/partly in the State of Rajasthan is as under:- Period Outlay 2009-14 ₹682 crore/year 2025-26 ₹9,960 crore (Nearly 15 times) The details of commissioning/laying of new track falling fully/partly in the State of Rajasthan during 2009-14 and 2014-25 is as under:- ..P/4-:4:- Period New Track Average commissioning of Commissioned new tracks 2009-14 798 Km 159.60 Km/year 2014-25 3,815 Km 346.82 Km/year (More than 2 times) As on 01.04.2025, 28 Railway projects (13 New Lines, 05 Gauge Conversion and 10 Doubling), of total length of 3,409 Km costing ₹43,918 crore falling fully/partly in the State of Rajasthan, are sanctioned. The summary is as under:- Category No. of Total Length Expenditure upto projects Length Commissioned March 2024 (in Km) (in Km) (₹ in Cr) New Lines 13 981 196 5,769 Gauge 5 1,252 788 6,829 Conversion Doubling/ 10 1,176 254 6,357 Multitracking Total 28 3,409 1,238 18,954 Zonal Railway wise details of Railway projects are made available in public domain on Indian Railway’s website. Details of some of the recently completed projects falling fully/partly in the State of Rajasthan are as under: ..P/5-:5:- S.No. Name of Project Latest Cost (₹ in crore) 1 Bangurgram-Ras New Line (28 km) 175 2 ThaiyatHamira-Sonu New Line (58 Km) 350 3 Suratpura- Sriganganagar Gauge Conversion 896 (241 Km) 4 Sadulpur-Bikaner & Ratangarh-Degana Gauge 886 Conversion (438 Km) 5 Jaipur -Churu & Sikar-Loharu Gauge 1,105 Conversion (320 Km) 6 Bhagat ki Kothi-Luni Doubling (28 Km) 128 7 Rani-Keshav Ganj Doubling (59 Km) 290 8 Guriya-Marwar & Karjoda-Palanpur Doubling 251 (49 Km) 9 Rani-Marwar Doubling (52 Km) 346 10 Abu Road-Swaroop Ganj Doubling (26 Km) 195 11 Abu Road-Sarotra Road Doubling (24 Km) 152 12 Alwar-Bandikui Doubling (60 Km) 450 13 Ajmer-Bangurgram Doubling (48 Km) 375 14 Bangurgram-Guriya Patch Doubling (47 Km) 395 15 Degana-Rai ka Bagh Doubling (146 Km) 809 16 Bina-Kota Doubling (283 Km) 2,476 17 Nimach-Chittaurgarh Doubling (56 Km) 560 18 Dausa-Gangapur City Doubling (93 Km) 950 ..P/6-:6:- S.No. Name of Project Latest Cost (₹ in crore) 19 Phulera-Degana Doubling (108 Km) 702 20 Churu-Ratangarh Doubling (43 Km) 423 In addition to above, part of Western Dedicated Freight Corridor passing through Rajasthan from Dabla to Abu Road (603 Km) has also been completed. Some of the main projects falling fully/partly in the State of Rajasthan which have been taken up are as under: S.No. Name of Project Cost (₹ in crore) 1 Nimach-Badi Sadri New Line (48 Km) 495 2 Taranga Hill-Abu Road New Line (116 Km) 2,798 3 Ramganjmandi-Bhopal New Line (277 Km) 5,073 4 Pushkar-Merta New Line (51 Km) 800 5 Ringus-Khatu Shyam Ji New Line (17 Km) 254 6 Merta city-Ras New Line & Bye Pass at Merta 947 Road Station (56 Km) 7 Gwalior-Sheopurkalan Gauge Conversion with 2,913 extension to Kota (284 Km) 8 Dholpur-Sirmuttra Gauge Conversion with 747 extension to Gangapur City (145 Km) ..P/7-:7:- S.No. Name of Project Cost (₹ in crore) 9 Mavli-Devgarh Madariya Gauge Conversion (83 969 Km) 10 Mathura-Jhansi 3rd Line (274 Km) 5,924 11 Agra Fort-Bandikui Doubling (150 Km) 988 12 Sawaimadhopur-Jaipur Doubling (131 Km) 1,204 13 Churu-Sadulpur & Luni-Bhildi Doubling (330 Km) 3,554 14 Ajmer-Chanderiya Doubling (178 Km) 1,635 15 Bye Pass line at Sawaimadhopur (14 Km) 304 16 Rewari-Khatuwas Doubling (28 Km) 352 17 Khatuwas-Narnaul Doubling (24 Km) 313 18 Bye Pass line at Marwar (4 Km) 71 19 Bypass line at Churu (5 Km) 63 20 Bypass line at Samdari (1 Km) 26 21 Ramdevra-Pokhran new line (13 Km) 189 22 Lalgarh-Bikaner East Cabin doubling (11 Km) 279 In last three years, 2022-23, 2023-24, 2024-25 and current financial year 2025-26, 59 surveys (25 new line & 34 doubling) of total length 5,666 Km falling fully/partly in the State of Rajasthan have been sanctioned in the state of Rajasthan. Moreover to improve further connectivity in the State of Rajasthan, following surveys have been taken up: ..P/8-:8:- S.No. Name of Project Length (In Km) 1 Anupgarh-Bikaner New Line & Spur line from 185 Rojhri to Khajuwala 2 Jaisalmer-Bhabhar/Bhildi New Line 380 3 Khajuwala-Jaisalmer New Line 260 4 Ringus-Loharu Doubling 172 5 Bypass line at Bikaner 43 6 Khatu Shyam Ji- Sujangarh New Line 45 7 Phalodi - Nagaur new line 148 8 Bypass at Jodhpur 80 9 Marwar Bhinmal - Marwar Ratanpur Doubling 43 10 Ajmer-Dausa New Line 236 11 Mandsor- Banswara New Line 168 12 Raas-Bilara New Line 53 13 Loharu-Pilani New Line 24 14 Jaipur-Phulera 3rd line 55 15 Sonu- Ramgarh New Line 20 16 Bikaner East - Ratangarh Junction Doubling 130 17 Elevated Rail Corridor from Delhi to Jaipur via 310 Rewari 18 Rewari - Sadulpur Doubling 141 19 Narnaul - Phulera Doubling 164 20 Bhatinda - Jaisalmer Doubling 635 ..P/9-:9:- Tamil Nadu Railway infrastructure projects falling fully/partly in the State of Tamil Nadu are covered under Southern Railway (SR), South Central Railway (SCR) and South Western Railway (SWR) zone of Indian Railways. Budget allocation in the recent years has increased significantly. Budget allocation for infrastructure projects and safety works, falling fully/partly in the State of Tamil Nadu is as under: Period Outlay 2009-14 ₹879 crore/year 2025-26 ₹ 6,626 crore (more than 7.5 times) As on 01.04.2025, 15 projects (09 new line, 03 gauge conversion and 03 doubling) of 1,700 km length, costing ₹22,808 Crore, falling fully/partly in the State of Tamil Nadu, are sanctioned. The summary is as under:- Category No. of Total Length Length Expenditure sanctioned (in km) Commissioned upto Mar’ 25 projects upto Mar’25 (₹ in Cr.) (in km) New Line 9 812 24 1,337 Gauge Conversion 3 748 604 3,471 Doubling 3 140 37 2,783 /Multitracking Total 15 1,700 665 7,591 ..P/10-:10:- Zonal Railway wise details of Railway projects are made available in public domain on Indian Railway’s website. Details of some of the recently completed projects falling fully/partly in Tamil Nadu are as under : Cost S.N. Project (₹in Crores) 1 Dindigal-Palani-Pollachi gauge conversion (121 km) 610 2 Pollachi-Palghat gauge conversion (56 km) 350 3 Pollachi-Podhanur gauge conversion (40 km) 400 4 Quilon-Tirunelveli-Tiruchendur gauge conversion 1,122 (357 km) 5 Mayiladuturai-Thiruvarur-Karaikkudi gauge 1,338 conversion (187 km) 6 Madurai-Bodiyakannur gauge conversion (90 km) 593 7 Chengalpattu-Villupuram doubling (102 km) 670 8 Tiruvallur-Arakkonam 4th line (27 km) 83 9 Chennai Central-Basin Bridge doubling (2 km) 31 10 Thanjavur-Ponmalai doubling (48 km) 370 11 Villupuram-Dindigul doubling (273 km) 2,000 12 Chennai Beach-Korukkupet 3rd line (5 km) 168 13 Chennai Beach-Attipattu 4th line (22 km) 293 14 Omalur-Metturdam Patch doubling (29 km) 327 ..P/11-:11:- Cost S.N. Project (₹in Crores) 15 Chengalpattu-Villupuram and Tambaram- 1,122 Chengalpattu-3rd line (133 km) 16 Salem-Magnesite Junction-Omalur doubling (11 km) 115 17 Madurai- Maniyachi-Tuticorin doubling (160 km) 1,891 18 Maniyachi-Nagercoil doubling (102 km) 1,752 19 Chennai Beach-Chennai Egmore doubling (4 km) 272 20 Karaikal-Peralam new line (23 km) 373 21 Northern End Port connectivity to Karaikal Port (1 18 km) Some of the projects falling fully/partly in the State of Tamil Nadu which have been taken up are as under : Cost S.N Project (₹ in Crores) 1 Tindivanam-Nagari new line (184 km) 3,631 2 Morappur-Dharmapuri new line (36 km) 359 3 Nagapattinam-Tiruturaipundi new line (43 km) 742 4 Trivandrum-Kanyakumari doubling (87 km) 3,785 5 Arakkonam yard 3rd & 4th line (6 km) 98 6 Perambur and Ambattur stations 5th & 6th lines 178 project (6 Km) ..P/12-:12:- In last three years i.e. 2022-23, 2023-24, 2024-25 and current financial year 2025-26, 29 surveys (06 new line and 23 doubling) covering a total length of 2,501 km has been sanctioned falling fully/partly in the State of Tamil Nadu. Execution of important infrastructure projects falling fully/partly in the State of Tamil Nadu are held up due to delay in land acquisition. Status of land acquisition in Tamil Nadu is as under: Total Land required for Projects in Tamil 4,326 ha Nadu Land Acquired 1,052 ha (24%) Balance Land to be acquired 3,274 ha (76%) Support of the Government of Tamil Nadu is needed to expedite the land acquisition. Details of some major projects which are delayed due to land acquisition are as under:- SN Name of the project Total land Land Balance required acquired Land to be (in ha) (in ha) acquired (in ha) 1. Tindivanam-Tiruvannamalai new 276 33 243 line (71 km) ..P/13-:13:- SN Name of the project Total Land Balance land acquired Land to be required (in ha) acquired (in ha) (in ha) 2. Attiputtu-Puttur new line (88 km) 189 0 189 3. Morappur-Dharmapuri new line (36 92 45 47 km) 4. Mannargudi-Pattukkottai new line 196 0 196 (41 km) 5. Thanjavur-Pattukottai new line 152 0 152 (52 km) Further, Rameshwaram – Dhanushkodi new line (18 km) was sanctioned at a cost of ₹734 Cr. The Foundation Stone of the project was laid on 01.03.2019. However, the project could not be started because the land acquisition has not been undertaken by the State Govt. of Tamil Nadu. Government of India is geared up to execute projects, however success depends upon the support of Government of Tamil Nadu. 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 ..P/14-:14:-  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 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. Various steps taken by the Government for effective and speedy implementation of rail projects include:  Substantial increase in allocation of funds.  Delegation of powers at field level.  Close monitoring of progress of project at various levels.  Regular follow up with State Governments and concerned authorities for expeditious land acquisition, forestry and Wildlife clearances and for resolving other issues pertaining to projects. *****