Parliament Question: Extension of Rishikesh-Karnprayag Railway Route

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF RAILWAYS LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 2984 TO BE ANSWERED ON 06.08.2025 EXTENSION OF RISHIKESH-KARNPRAYAG RAILWAY ROUTE †2984. SHRI ANIL BALUNI:

Will the Minister of RAILWAYS be pleased to state:

(a) the details of the time by when the Rishikesh-Karnprayag railway route is likely to be completed; and

(b) whether the Government proposes to extend the said railway route and if so, the details thereof? ANSWER MINISTER OF RAILWAYS, INFORMATION & BROADCASTING AND ELECTRONICS & INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY (SHRI ASHWINI VAISHNAW)

(a) and (b): Rishikesh-Karnaprayag new rail line project (125 km) is a prestigious project of Indian Railways which lies completely in the state of Uttarakhand. It passes through difficult geological and challenging terrain of Himalayas. This project is aimed at transforming connectivity in Uttarakhand.

The project alignment passes through Dehradun, Tehri Garhwal, Pauri Garhwal, Rudrapryag and Chamoli Districts of Uttarakhand and will provide rail connectivity to Devprayag and Karnaprayag religious and tourist spots with Rishikesh and National Capital of India.The alignment of the project predominantly passes through tunnels.

The project involves construction of 16 main line tunnels of 105 km length, 12 escape tunnels of about 98 km length and 10 km of adits/cross passages. So far, 13 main line tunnels and 9 escape tunnels have been completed.

To increase progress of works, 08 Adits in various tunnels were also identified. These adits created additional work faces of tunnel excavation expediting early completion of long tunnels. Works of all 8 Adits have also been completed.

Accordingly, tunneling of 199 Km against total scope of 213 Km has been completed.

For the first time in Indian Railways, Tunnel Boring Machine (TBM) was deployed in the Himalayan Geology for faster execution of works of longest tunnel (T-8) which is 14.8Km long. Breakthrough of twin tunnels through TBMs has been achieved.

The tunneling is being carried out with all precautions and latest technologies to ensure minimum damage to ecology and surroundings.

The completion of any Railway project depends on various factors like quick land acquisition by State Government, forest clearance by officials of forest department, deposition of cost share by State Government in cost sharing projects, priority of projects, shifting of infringing utilities, statutory clearances from various authorities, geological and topographical conditions of area, law and order situation in the area of project(s) site, number of working months in a year for particular project site due to climatic conditions etc.The Final Location Survey of Chardham Project- connectivity link to Gangotri, Yamunotri, Kedarnath and Badrinath with Indian Railways has been completed. The project has two alignments (i) Doiwala-Uttarkashi- Barkot which will serve Yamnotari and Gangotri shrines (ii) Karnaprayag- Saikot- Soneprayag- Joshimath will serve Kedarnath and Badrinath shrines.

After firming up of Detailed Project Report, 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 cannot be fixed.

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