Parliament Question: High Density Network of Railways

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF RAILWAYS LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 5501 TO BE ANSWERED ON 25.03.2026 HIGH DENSITY NETWORK OF RAILWAYS 5501. SHRI G KUMAR NAIK: Will the Minister of RAILWAYS be pleased to state: (a) the details of the High Density Network (HDN) of Indian Railways at present including total route-kilometres covered, corridor-wise length and their share in overall passenger and freight traffic; (b) the details of the number of High Density Network corridors identified during the last ten years and whether any new corridors have been added or reclassified during this period and if so, the details thereof; (c) whether any High Density Network corridor passes through the State of Karnataka and if so, the details thereof and if not, the reasons therefor including the average line capacity utilisation across various railway zones; and (d) the details of the decongestion measures undertaken during the last ten years on HDN and non-HDN corridors, year-wise and State-wise? ANSWER MINISTER OF RAILWAYS, INFORMATION & BROADCASTING AND ELECTRONICS & INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY (SHRI ASHWINI VAISHNAW) (a) to (d) There are 7 High Density Network (HDN) Routes on Indian Railways. The details are as under: HDN Route Route km HDN-1 Delhi – Howrah 1463km HDN-2 Howrah – Mumbai 1889km HDN-3 Delhi – Mumbai 1387km HDN-4 Delhi – Guwahati 1845km HDN-5 Delhi – Chennai 2048km § Page 1 of 6HDN-6 Howrah – Chennai 1113km (Kharagpur - Vijayawada) HDN-7 Mumbai – Chennai 1224km HDN routes cover about 16% of the total rail network and handle about 41% of total rail traffic. The HDN-7, Mumbai–Chennai route passes through the state of Karnataka. During last 11 years Indian Railways has undertaken a large number of capacity augmentation, network expansion and infrastructure modernization projects across the country to improve the capacity of the railway network. The details of commissioning/laying of new track across Indian Railways are given below: Period New Track Commissioned Average Commissioning of New Tracks 2009-14 7,599 km 4.2 km/day 2014-25 34,428 km 8.6 km/day (more than 2 times) As on 01.04.2025, across Indian Railways, 431 railway infrastructure projects (154 New Line, 33 Gauge Conversion and 244 Doubling projects) of total length 35,966 km, costing approximately ₹6.75 lakh crore are sanctioned. The summary is as under: Category No. of Total Length Length Total Exp. Projects NL/GC/DL Commissioned till upto Mar’25 (km) Mar’25 (km) (₹ in Cr) New lines 154 16,142 3,036 1,45,318 Gauge 33 4,180 2,997 22,753 Conversion Page 2 of 6Doubling/ 244 15,644 6,736 1,22,858 Multitracking Total 431 35,966 12,769 2,90,929 In addition to the construction of new lines, gauge conversion, doubling/multitracking, additional measures taken up to decongest railway network and upgrade/modernize railway infrastructure include: Dedicated Freight Corridors (DFC): Ministry of Railways has taken up construction of two Dedicated Freight Corridors (DFC) viz. Eastern Dedicated Freight Corridor (EDFC) from Ludhiana to Sonnagar (1337 km) and the Western Dedicated Freight Corridor (WDFC) from Jawaharlal Nehru Port Terminal (JNPT) to Dadri (1506 km). The work on EDFC has been completed and commissioned. In WDFC, 1404 Rkm out of total 1506 Rkm has been completed and commissioned. The balance work on WDFC from Vaitarna-JNPT section (102Rkm) has been taken up. DFC has contributed to creating additional paths on the conventional network by diverting freight traffic to EDFC and WDFC. Presently, 443 average trains per day are being run on these corridors. Karnataka: Budget allocation in the recent years has increased significantly.Budget allocation for infrastructure projects and safetyworks, falling fully/partly in the State of Karnataka is as under: Period Outlay 2009–14 ₹835 crore/year 2025–26 ₹7,564 crore (more than 9 times) Page 3 of 6As on 01.04.2025, 25 projects (15 new lines, 10 doubling) of 3,264 km length, costing ₹ 42,517 crore falling fully/partly in Karnataka are sanctioned. The summary is as under: Category No. of Total Length Length Exp upto sanctioned (in km) Commissioned Mar’25 (₹ Projects upto Mar’25 in cr.) (km) New Line 15 2,034 421 8,794 Doubling/ 10 1,230 973 12,516 Multi- tracking Total 25 3,264 1,394 21,310 Details of some of the recently completed projects falling fully/partly in the state of Karnataka are as under: S. Project Cost (₹ in Crores) No 1 Kotturu–Harihar new line (65 km) 468 2 Hassan–Bengaluru new line (167 km) 1,290 3 Bidar–Gulbarga new line (110 km) 1,543 4 Shivani–Hosadurga Road doubling (10 km) 50 5 Shivani–Birur doubling (29 km) 143 6 Hosadurga–Chikjajur doubling (29 km) 260 7 Ramanagaram–Mysuru patch doubling (94 km) 998 8 Yelahanka – Channasandra doubling (13 km) 108 9 Yesvantpur–Yelahanka doubling (12 km) 95 10 Netravathi–Mangaluru Central doubling (2 km) 28 11 Kankanadi–Panamburu doubling (19 km) 350 12 Arsikere–Tumakuru doubling (96 km) 758 13 Yelahanka–Penukonda doubling (123 km) 1,104 Page 4 of 614 Daund–Gulbarga doubling (225 km) 3,182 15 Hubballi–Chikjajur doubling (190 km) 1,850 Details of some of the major projects taken up falling fully/partly in the state of Karnataka are as under: S. Project Cost (₹ in No Crores) 1 Hosapete–Hubballi–Londa–Vasco-de-Gama doubling 4,153 (312 km) 2 Hotgi–Gadag doubling (284 km) 2,459 3 Ginigera–Raichur new line (165 km) 3,401 4 Gadag – Wadi new line (257 km) 2,842 5 Bagalkot – Kudachi new line (142 km) 1,649 6 Tumakuru – Rayadurga new line (207 km) 2,496 7 Tumakuru – Davangere new line (182 km) 2,142 8 Kadur – Chikkamagaluru – Belur new line (68 km) 825 9 Baiyyapanahalli – Hosur doubling (48 km) 336 10 Yesvantpur – Channasandra doubling (22 km) 314 11 Hosapete – Ballari 3rd & 4th line (65 Km) 2,372 12 Ballari-Chikjajur doubling (185 KM) 3,342 13 Bypass line between Bettahalsoor-Rajankunte 248 (6 Km) Details of some of the major projects which are delayed due to land acquisition are as under:- S Project Total Land Balance No. Land acquired Land to be required (in ha) acquired (in ha) (in ha) Page 5 of 61 Shivamogga – Ranibennur new 559 226 333 line (96 km) 2 Belgaum – Dharwad new line 581 0 581 (73 km) 3 Shivamogga – Harihar new line 488 0 488 (79 km) 4 Whitefield–Kolar new line (53 337 0 337 km) 5 Hassan–Belur new line (32 km) 206 0 206 Summary of the status of land acquisition in Karnataka is as under: Particulars Details Total Land required for Projects in Karnataka 9,064 ha Land Acquired 5,707 ha (63%) Balance Land to be acquired 3,357 ha (37%) Government of India is geared up to execute projects, however success depends upon the support of Government of Karnataka. ***** Page 6 of 6