Parliament Question: Freight traffic augmentation and logistics efficiency

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF RAILWAYS RAJYA SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 3929 ANSWERED ON 27.03.2026 FREIGHT TRAFFIC AUGMENTATION AND LOGISTICS EFFICIENCY 3929 DR. K. LAXMAN: Will the Minister of RAILWAYS be pleased to state: (a) the manner in which the approved multi-tracking projects will result in additional freight traffic for essential commodities like coal, steel, iron ore, cement and food grains; (b) the expected reduction in logistics costs through modal shift to railways; (c) the benefits for industrial clusters in Telangana from improved freight connectivity to ports; and (d) the contribution to decongesting the rail network and improving freight speeds? ANSWER MINISTER OF RAILWAYS, INFORMATION & BROADCASTING AND ELECTRONICS & INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY (SHRI ASHWINI VAISHNAW) (a) to (d): Capacity enhancement of railway network has been taken up by Indian Railways in a big way during last 11 years. The details of commissioning/laying of new track across Indian Railways is given below:- New track Period Average commissioning of new tracks Commissioned 2009-14 7,599 Km 4.2 Km/day 2014-25 34,428 Km 8.6 Km/day (more than 2 times) Projects sanctioned: As on 01.04.2025, across Indian Railways, 431 Railway infrastructure projects including port- connectivity (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:- Page 1 of 7 §Total Length Length Commissioned No of Total Exp upto Mar'25 Category NL/GC/DL till Mar'25 Projects ( in Crore) (km) (Km) New Lines 154 16,142 3,036 1,45,318 Gauge Conversion 33 4,180 2,997 22,753 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. Some of the Major Multi-tracking projects: Some of the major multi-tracking projects sanctioned for augmentation of Railway Network are as under: Cost SN Project Name (₹ in Crore) 1 Chopan – Chunar doubling (102 Km) 1,553 2 Guntur – Bibinagar doubling (239 Km) 3,238 3 Mudkhed – Medchal & Mahbubnagar – Dhone doubling (418 Km) 5,655 4 Samakhiali – Gandhidham Quadrupling (53 Km) 1,571 5 Lumding – Furkating doubling (140 Km) 2,334 6 Ajmer – Chanderiya doubling (178 Km) 1,813 7 Motumari – Vishnupuram with RoR doubling (100 Km) 1,746 8 Chandil – Anara – Damodar 3rd line (121 Km) 2,170 9 Varanasi – Pt. Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Multitracking with rail cum road 2,642 bridge on river ganga (15 Km) 10 Jalgaon – Manmad 4th line (160 Km) 2,773 11 Bhusawal – Khandwa 3rd & 4th line (131 Km) 3,514 12 Sambalpur – Jarapada 3rd & 4th line (127 Km) 3,916 13 Jharsuguda – Sason 3rd & 4th line (35 Km) 1,181 14 Gondia – Ballarshah doubling (240 Km) 4,819 15 Kharsia – Naya Raipur – Parmalkasa 5th & 6th line (278 Km) 8,741 16 Wardha – Balharshah Quadrupling (135 Km) 2,381 Page 2 of 7 §Cost SN Project Name (₹ in Crore) 17 Ballari – Chikjajur doubling (185 Km) 3,342 18 Koderma – Barkakana doubling (133 Km) 3,063 19 Itarsi – Nagpur 4th line (297 Km) 5,451 20 Dangoaposi – Jaroli 3rd & 4th line (43 Km) 1,752 21 Secunderabad – Wadi 3rd & 4th line (173 Km) 5,012 22 Furkating – New Tinsukia doubling (194 Km) 3,634 23 Bakhtiyarpur – Rajgir – Tilaiya doubling (104 Km) 2,192 24 Gondia – Dongargarh 4th line (84 Km) 2,223 25 Wardha – Bhusawal 3rd & 4th line (314 Km) 9,197 26 Hosapete – Bellary quadrupling (65 Km) 2,372 27 Kasara – Manmad 3rd & 4th line (131 Km) 10,154 28 Punarakh – Kiul 3rd & 4th line (50 Km) 2,668 29 Gamharia – Chandil 3rd & 4th line (55 Km) 1,168 30 Sainthia- Pakhur 4th Line (81 Km) 1,569 31 Santragachi- Kharagpur 4th line (111 Km) 2,905 32 Nergundi – Barang &Khurda Road – Vizianagaram 3rd line (385 Km) 5,618 33 Son Nagar – Andal Multi tracking (375 Km) 13,606 34 Gorakhpur Cantt – Valmiki Nagar doubling (96 Km) 1,270 35 Jaipur – Sawai Madhopur doubling (131 Km) 1,269 36 Luni – Samdari – Bhildi doubling (272 Km) 3,531 37 Narkatiaganj – Raxaul – Sitamarhi – Darbhanga & Sitamarhi – Muzaffarpur 4,553 doubling (256 Km) 38 Prayagraj (Iradatganj) – Manikpur 3rd line (84 Km) 1,640 39 Tirupati – Pakala – Katpadi doubling (104 Km) 1,332 40 Ratlam – Nagda 3rd and 4th line (41 Km) 1,018 41 Aluabari Road – New Jalpaiguri 3rd & 4th line (57 Km) 1,786 42 Aurangabad (Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar) – Parbhani (177 Km) 2,179 43 Bhagalpur – Dumka – Rampurhat doubling (177 Km) 3,169 44 Itarsi – Bina 4th line (237 Km) 4,329 45 Vadodara – Ratlam 3rd & 4th line (259 Km) 8,885 46 Devbhumi Dwarka (Okha) – Kanalus doubling (141 Km) 1,457 47 Badlapur – Karjat 3rd and 4th line (32 Km) 1,324 Page 3 of 7 §Cost SN Project Name (₹ in Crore) 48 Delhi – Ambala Cantt 3rd & 4th line (194 Km) 5,983 49 Gondia – Jabalpur doubling (231 Km) 5,236 Indian Railway has taken several measures during the last few years to enhance the freight loading and revenue. Freight loading since 2014 is as below: Freight loading Year (in Million Tonnes) 2014-15 1,098 2015-16 1,104 2016-17 1,109 2017-18 1,162 2018-19 1,223 2019-20 1,210 2020-21 1,233 2021-22 1,418 2022-23 1,512 2023-24 1,591 2024-25 1,617 1,700 1,617 1,600 1,500 1,591 1,418 1,512 1,400 1,300 1,210 1,162 1,200 1,104 1,223 1,233 1,100 1,098 1,109 1,000 Because of these measures, the freight loading has increased from 1,233 MT in 2020-21 to 1,617 MT in 2024-25. During 2024-25, IR transported 1,617 MT thus becoming second largest freight carrying Railways in the world. Page 4 of 7 § 51-4102 61-5102 71-6102 81-7102 91-8102 02-9102 12-0202 22-1202 32-2202 42-3202 52-4202 Freight loading (in Million Tonnes)TELANGANA: Railway Budget: Budget allocation in the recent years has increased significantly. Budget allocation for infrastructure projects and safety works, falling fully/partly in the State of Telangana is as under: Period Outlay 2009-14 886 Cr./Yr.(including Andhra Pradesh) 2025-26 5,337 Cr. Track Construction: The details of commissioning/laying of new track falling fully/partly in the State of Telangana during 2009-14 and 2014-25 is as under: New Track Period Average Commissioning of new tracks Commissioned 2009-14 87 Km 17.4 km/per year 2014-25 774 Km 70.4 km /per year (more than 4 times) Projects sanctioned: As on 01.04.2025, 20 Railway projects (6 New Lines and 14 Doubling), of a total length of 2,166 Km, costing ₹35,045 crore falling fully/partly in the State of Telangana have been sanctioned. The summary is as under:- Length Commissioned Total Exp. upto No. of Total Length Category till March, 2025 March, 2025 projects (in Km) (in Km) ( in Crore) New Line 6 840 245 4,611 Doubling/Multi- 14 1,326 303 6,939 tracking Total 20 2,166 548 11,550 Recently completed projects: Details of some of the completed projects falling fully/partly in the State of Telangana are as under: Cost S. N. Project ( in Crore) 1 Peddapalli- Nizamabad new line (178 Km) 926 2 Jaggayyapeta- Janpahad new line (48 Km) 737 3 Akkanapet – Medak new line (17 Km) 205 4 Bhadrachalam Road-Sattupalli new line (56 Km) 990 Page 5 of 7 §Cost S. N. Project ( in Crore) 5 Raghavapuram-Mandamari Doubling (24 Km) 165 6 Raichur-Guntakal Doubling (81 Km) 388 7 Secunderabad- Mehboobnagar Doubling (85 Km) 1,266 8 Multi- Modal Transport System (MMTS) Phase-II, Hyderabad (103 Km) 1,156 9 Byepass line at Peddapalli (2 Km) 37 Ongoing Projects: Details of some of the projects falling fully/partly in the State of Telangana which have been taken up are as under: Cost S.N. Name of Project ( in Crore) 1 Manoharabad-Kothapalli new line (151 Km) 2,781 2 Malkangiri-Pandurangapuram new line (174 Km) 3,592 3 Kazipet -Vijaywada - 3rd line (220 Km) 3,315 4 Kazipet -Ballarshah - 3rd line (202 Km) 3,183 5 Guntur- Bibinagar Doubling(239 Km) 2,853 6 Mudkhed - Medchal - Dhone Doubling (417 Km) 4,686 7 Bhadrachalam Road – Dornakal Doubling(55 Km) 770 8 Motumari-Vishnupuram doubling and RoR at Motumari (100 Km) 1,596 9 Nashkal (Pindial)-Hasanparthi Road bypass (25 Km) 465 10 Secunderabad (Sanathnagar)- Wadi 3rd and 4th line (173 Km) 5,012 11 Dornakal Rail over Rail (RoR) Flyover (11 Km) 327 Execution of important infrastructure projects falling fully/partly in the State of Telangana is held up due to delay in land acquisition. Status of land acquisition in Telangana is as under: Total Land required 2,343 Ha Land Acquired 1,580 Ha (67%) Balance Land to be acquired 764 Ha (33%) Details of some major projects which are delayed due to land acquisition are as under:- Total land Balance Land to Land acquired S.N. Name of the project required be acquired (Ha) (Ha) (Ha) 1. Guntur- Bibinagar Doubling 31 0 31 Mudkhed – Medchal & Mahbubnagar – 2. 70 0 70 Dhone Doubling Page 6 of 7 §Total land Balance Land to Land acquired S.N. Name of the project required be acquired (Ha) (Ha) (Ha) 3. Kazipet-Vijaywada 3rd Line 135 118 17 4. Manoharabad – Kothapalli New Line 1146 1050 96 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. ***** Page 7 of 7 §