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GOVERNMENT OF INDIA
MINISTRY OF RAILWAYS
LOK SABHA
UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 5411
TO BE ANSWERED ON 25.03.2026
NANDURBAR-TALODA-AKKALKUWA-UMARPADA-DEDIYAPADA NEW
RAILWAY LINE
5411. ADV GOWAAL KAGADA PADAVI:
Will the Minister of RAILWAYS be pleased to state:
(a) whether the Government has examined a proposal for a new railway
line connecting Nandurbar – Taloda – Akkalkuwa – Umarpada -
Dediyapada and linking it with the Bharuch line in Gujarat to
enhance inter-state connectivity and if so, the details thereof;
(b) the current status of new surveys, new route feasibility and
consultations with the Governments of Maharashtra and Gujarat for
new projects;
(c) the details of the estimated cost, traffic potential and economic
viability of the corridor between two States;
(d) the current status of the projects in terms of passenger mobility,
freight transport and socio-economic development of tribal regions;
and
(e) the proposed timeline for approval, funding and execution of the
project?
ANSWER
MINISTER OF RAILWAYS, INFORMATION & BROADCASTING AND
ELECTRONICS & INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
(SHRI ASHWINI VAISHNAW)
(a) to (e): Nandurbar is connected to Bharuch through existing railway
network via Surat (Udhna). To connect Umarpada to Bharuch and Udhna,
Kosamba-Umarpada Gauge Conversion project (70 Km) has been taken up.
Project is declared as “Special Railway Project” and CALA is nominated for
land acquisition. Land acquisition has been taken up.
§ Page 1 of 13To provide additional connectivity in the region, feasibility study for
Umarpada-Akkalkuva-Nandurbar new line (96 Km) was carried out.
However, the project has low traffic projections.
To further improve connectivity in the region, following additional
works/surveys have been taken up:-
Name of Length Status
works/surveys (Km)
Udhna (Surat)- 156 Detailed Project Report has been
Nandurbar 3rd & 4th prepared.
line
Nandurbar-Jalgaon 3rd 148 Survey has been sanctioned.
& 4th line
Nimach – Dahod - 380 Survey has been sanctioned.
Alirajpur - Nandurbar
new line
Indore – Nardana - 360 The project has been declared as
Manmad new line “Special Railway Project”. Work
has been taken up.
Dahanu - Udhna - 311 Survey has been sanctioned.
Surat – Vadodara -
Anand 3rd & 4th line
After preparation of DPR, 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 depend upon appraisals and approvals by various stakeholders.
MAHARASHTRA:
Railway Budget:
Budget allocation during the last five years has increased significantly.
Budget allocation for infrastructure projects and safety works, falling
fully/partly in the State of Maharashtra is as under:
Page 2 of 13Period Outlay
2009-14 ₹1,171 crore/year
2025-26 ₹23,778 crore (More than 20 times)
Track construction:
The details of constructing new track falling fully/partly in the State of
Maharashtra during 2009-14 and 2014-25 is as under:
New Track Average Commissioning of new
Period
Commissioned tracks
292 Km 58.4 Km/year
2009-14
2,292 Km 208.4 Km/year (More than 3 times)
2014-25
Projects sanctioned:
As on 01.04.2025, 38 projects (11 New Lines, 02 Gauge Conversion and 25
Doubling), of a total length of 5,098 km, costing ₹89,780 crore, falling
fully/partly in the State of Maharashtra, have been sanctioned. The
summary is as under:-
Category No. of Total Length Total
projects length commissioned Expenditure
upto Mar'25
(Km) upto Mar'25
(Km)
(Cr.)
New Line 11 1,355 234 10,504
Gauge
02 609 334 4,286
Conversion
Doubling /
25 3,134 1,792 24,617
Multitracking
Total 38 5,098 2,360 39,407
Recently completed projects:
Details of some of the recently completed projects falling fully/partly in the
State of Maharashtra are as under:
S.No. Name of Project Cost
(₹ in Cr.)
1 Pune-Miraj-Londa Doubling (467 Km) 4,670
2 Jabalpur-Gondia Gauge Conversion (300 Km) 2,005
Page 3 of 13S.No. Name of Project Cost
(₹ in Cr.)
3 Chhindwara-Nagpur Gauge Conversion (150 Km) 1,512
4 Panvel-Pen Doubling (35 Km) 263
5 Pen-Roha Doubling (40 Km) 330
6 Udhna-Jalgaon Doubling (307 Km) 2,448
7 Mudkhed-Parbhani Doubling (81 Km) 673
8 Bhusawal-Jalgaon 3rd Line (24 Km) 325
9 Jalgaon-Bhusawal 4th Line (24 Km) 261
10 Daund-Gulbarga Doubling (225 Km) 3,182
Ongoing projects:
To further improve the Railway Infrastructure in the State of Maharashtra,
following works have been taken up:-
S. No. Name of the project Cost
(₹ In crore)
1 Ahilyanagar (Ahmednagar) – Beed - Parli Vaijnath 4,957
New Line (261 Km)
2 Baramati-Lonand New Line (64 Km) 1,844
3 Wardha-Nanded New Line (284 Km) 3,445
4 Indore-Manmad New Line (360 Km) 18,529
5 Wadsa-Gadchiroli New Line (52 Km) 1,886
6 Jalna-Jalgaon New Line (174 Km) 5,804
7 Daund-Manmad Doubling (236 Km) 3,037
8 Kalyan-Kasara 3rd Line (68 Km) 1,433
9 Wardha-Nagpur 3rd Line (76 Km) 698
10 Wardha-Ballarshah 3rd Line (132 Km) 1,385
11 Itarsi-Nagpur 3rd Line (280 Km) 2,450
12 Rajnandgaon-Nagpur 3rd Line (228 Km) 3,545
13 Wardha-Nagpur 4th Line (79 Km) 1,137
14 Jalgaon-Manmad 4th Line (160 Km) 2,574
15 Bhusawal-Khandwa 3rd & 4th Line (131 Km) 3,285
16 Solapur-Tuljapur-Osmanabad New Line (95 Km) 2,933
17 Panvel-Chowk Double Line (17 Km) 491
18 Wardha-Balharshah 4th Line (135 Km) 2,226
19 Itarsi-Nagpur 4th Line (297 Km) 5,010
20 Wardha-Bhusawal 3rd & 4th Line (314 Km) 9,197
21 Asangaon-Kasara 4th Line (35 Km) 794
22 Badlapur-Karjat 3rd & 4th Line (32 Km) 1,324
23 Gondia-Dongargarh 4th Line (84 Km) 2,223
24 Gondia-Balharshah Doubling (240 Km) 4,819
Page 4 of 13Increasing train handling capacity in Mumbai area:
Presently, about 120 originating Mail/Express trains and about 3200 sub
urban trains are handled daily in Mumbai area. To increase train handling
capacity at various stations in Mumbai area, following works have been
completed/taken up/planned at various stations:
SN Location Details
1 Bandra Terminus 3 Pit Lines have been completed
2 Mumbai Central Platform extension for 24 LHB coaches
3 Jogeshwari 2 additional platforms
4 Dadar 1 additional platform
5 Vasai road 6 platforms, 3 pit lines and 5 stabling
lines
6 Panvel-Kalamboli 5 platforms , 4 pit lines and 2 sick lines
7 Kalyan 6 platforms and 4 pit lines
8 LTT 4 platforms and 2 pit lines
9 Parel 6 platforms, 5 pit lines, 6 stabling lines
10 Virar 25 stabling lines
11 Dahanu road 11 stabling lines
12 Mira road 25 stabling lines
Platform length extension:
In addition to above, Platform extension work at 34 stations to
accommodate 15 car EMUs have been taken up.
New projects for increasing capacity:
To improve the capacity of rail network in Mumbai suburban area, Mumbai
Urban Transport Project (MUTP)-II costing ₹8,087 crore, MUTP-III costing
₹10,947 crore and MUTP-IIIA costing ₹33,690 crore have been sanctioned.
These projects include following works in Mumbai Suburban Area:
SN Name of Project Cost
(₹ in Cr.)
CSMT-Kurla 5th & 6th Line (MUTP-II) (17.5 Km) 891
1
2 Mumbai Central-Borivali 6th Line (MUTP-II) (30 Km) 919
Page 5 of 13Extension of Harbour Line from Goregaon-Borivali
3 826
(MUTP-IIIA) (7 Km)
4 Borivali-Virar 5th & 6th Line (MUTP-IIIA) (26 Km) 2,184
5 Virar-Dahanu Road 3rd & 4th Line (MUTP-III) (64 Km) 3,587
6 Panvel-Karjat Suburban Corridor (MUTP-III) (29.6 Km) 2,782
Airoli-Kalwa (elevated) Suburban Corridor link (MUTP-
7 476
III) (3.3 Km)
8 Kalyan-Asangaon 4thLine (MUTP-IIIA) (32 Km) 1,759
9 Kalyan-Badlapur 3rd& 4th line (MUTP-IIIA) (14 Km) 1,510
10 Kalyan-Kasara 3rd Line (67 Km) 793
11 Naigaon-Juichandra double chord Line (6 Km) 176
12 Nilaje-Kopar double chord Line (5 Km) 338
13 Kalyan Yard remodeling work 866
New generation trains:
To enhance passenger carrying capacity, 238 rakes of 12 cars each with
doors have been sanctioned under MUTP-III & IIIA at a cost of ₹19,293
crore. The process for procurement of these rakes has been taken up.
Capacity Augmentation works for Pune Area:
Presently, about 33 originating Mail/Express trains are handled daily in
Pune area.
To increase train handling capacity at various stations in Pune area,
following works have been completed/taken up/planned at various
stations:
SN Location Details
1 Pune Junction 6 additional Platforms and Extension of 5
Platforms.
2 Hadapsar Extension of 3 Platforms to handle full length
trains.
3 Khadki Raising and Extension of PF-3/4 and extension
Page 6 of 13of running lines completed in July’2025.
4 Alandi New Coaching Terminal with 9 additional
Platforms, 8 pit lines and 8 stabling lines
5 Phursungi 5 Stabling Lines at Phursungi
In addition to above, following capacity additional works have been
undertaken in Pune Area to increase the train handling capacity:
SN Name of Project
1 3rd Line between Hadapsar and Ghorpuri Yard
2 New Block station at Manjari Bhadrukin Pune-Daund Section and
Ramtekdi in Pune-Sasvad section
3 Bidirectional Signalling in Pune Sasvad Road Section
Bullet Train project:
Mumbai-Ahmedabad High Speed Rail (MAHSR) Project (508 km) passes
through the States of Gujarat, Maharashtra and Union Territory of Dadra &
Nagar Haveli with 12 stations planned at Mumbai, Thane, Virar, Boisar,
Vapi, Billimora, Surat, Bharuch, Vadodara, Anand, Ahmedabad and
Sabarmati.
Entire land (1389.5 Ha.) for MAHSR project has been acquired. All Statutory
Clearances have been obtained. All 1651 utilities have been shifted. The
delay in land acquisition in the State of Maharashtra has impacted the
project till 2021. The land acquisition picked up in 2022 in Maharashtra.
The progress of various major items so far is as under:
Item Progress
Piers 430 kms.
Girder 341 kms.
Track Bed 174 kms.
OHE Masts 153 kms.
Page 7 of 13The progress of stations is given below:-
S.No. Station Status
Foundation works completed, Platform slab &
1 Sabarmati roof structural works and finishing works are
in progress
2 Ahmedabad Structural works completed and finishing
3 Anand/Nadiad works have been taken up.
Foundation work completed, structural works
4 Vadodara
and finishing works have been taken up.
5 Bharuch
6 Surat Structural works completed and finishing
7 Bilimora works have been taken up.
8 Vapi
9 Boisar Foundation works have been taken up and in
10 Virar advanced stage. Structural works have been
11 Thane taken up.
This is an underground station. Foundation
BKC
12 works almost completed and Base Slab has
(Mumbai)
been taken up.
The progress on the River Bridges is as under:-
S. No. River Name Status
Sub-Structure work completed,
Sabarmati River
1 Superstructure work has been taken
(480m)
up.
2 Meshwa River (120m)
3 Vatrak River (280m)
Bridge construction completed.
Mohar (Shedhi) River
4
(160m)
11 out of 12 wells completed;5 spans
5 Mahi River (720m)
launched
Vishwamitri River
6
(80m) Bridge construction completed.
7 Dhadhar River (120m)
Narmada River 21 out of 25 wells completed; 4 spans
8
(1366m) launched
9 Kim River (120m) Bridge construction completed.
Page 8 of 13Foundation work has been taken up,
10 Tapi River (720m)
10 out of 12 wells completed
11 Mindhola River (240m)
12 Purna River (360m)
13 Ambika River (200m)
Venganiya River
14
(200m)
15 Kaveri River (120m)
16 Kharera River (120m) Bridge construction completed.
17 Auranga River (320m)
18 Par River (320m)
19 Kolak River (160m)
Daman Ganga River
20
(360m)
21 Darotha River (80m)
Foundation works have been
22 Jagani River (360m)
completed
Vaitarna River 12 Pile Cap and 11 Pier (out of 58)
23
(2320m) completed.
Temporary Access Bridge (TAB)
Ulhas River Branch
24 completed to start the foundation
(120m)
work.
Geo-technical Investigation (GTI) has
Desai Khadi River
25 been completed and Design work has
Bridge (400m)
been taken up.
The work of the under-sea tunnel (approximately 21 Km) has commenced,
out of which 4.8 Km of tunnel between Ghansoli and Shilphata in
Maharashtra has been completed.
Dedicated Freight Corridor:
Ministry of Railways (MoR) has taken up construction of two Dedicated
Freight Corridors (DFC) viz. Eastern Dedicated Freight Corridor (EDFC)
from Ludhiana to Sonnagar (1,337 Km) and the Western Dedicated Freight
Corridor (WDFC) from Jawaharlal Nehru Port Terminal (JNPT) to Dadri
(1,506 Km). The work on EDFC has been completed and commissioned. In
Page 9 of 13WDFC, 1,404 RKm out of total 1,506 RKm has been completed and
commissioned. The balance work on WDFC from Vaitarna-JNPT section
(102 Rkm) has been taken up. The Western Dedicated Freight Corridor
(WDFC) consisting of 565 Km route in the State of Gujarat is already
operational.
Western DFC also passes through Maharashtra. About 178 route Km of
western DFC is situated in Maharashtra. 76 Km of this project from New
Gholvad to New Vaitarna in Maharashtra has already been commissioned.
Balance works have been taken up. Connectivity of WDFC to JNPT will
boost the capacity to handle cargo and container traffic from port to Delhi
NCR.
GUJARAT:
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 Gujarat is as under:
Period Outlay
2009-14 ₹589 crore/year
2025-26 ₹17,155 crore (More than 29 times)
Track Construction:
The details of commissioning/laying of new track, falling fully/partly in the
State of Gujarat during 2009-14 and 2014-25, is as under:
New Track Average Commissioning of new
Period
Commissioned tracks
660 Km 132 Km/year
2009-14
2,764 Km 251 Km/yr (nearly 2 times)
2014-25
Page 10 of 13Projects Sanctioned:
As on 01.04.2025, 36 Railway projects (6 New Lines, 17 Gauge Conversion
and 13 Doubling), of a total length of 2,564 Km, costing ₹30,275 crore,
falling fully/partly in the State of Gujarat have been sanctioned. The
summary is as under:-
Category No. of Total Length Total
sanctioned length commissioned Expenditure
projects upto Mar'25
(Km) upto Mar'25
(Km)
(Cr.)
New Lines 6 532 105 5,494
Gauge
17 1,379 718 6,213
Conversion
Doubling /
13 653 40 1,158
Multitracking
Total 36 2,564 863 12,865
Recently completed projects:
Details of some of the completed projects, falling fully/partly in the State of
Gujarat, are as under:
S.No. Name of Project Cost
(₹ in Cr.)
1 Mahesana-Taranga Hill Gauge Conversion (210 Km) 891
2 Himmatnagar-Khedbrahma Gauge Conversion 482
(55 Km)
3 Ahmedabad-Botad Gauge Conversion (170 Km) 1,810
4 Dhasa-Jetalsar Gauge Conversion (104 Km) 1,024
5 Ahmedabad-Mahesana Gauge Conversion (69 Km) 874
6 Katosan-Chanasma Gauge Conversion (38 Km) 484
7 Kalol-Kadi-Katosan Gauge Conversion (37 Km) 347
8 Vijapur-Ambliyasan Gauge Conversion (42 Km) 415
9 Dabhoi-Chandod with extension up to Kevadiya 1,018
Gauge Conversion (50 Km)
10 Viramgam-Samakhiali Doubling (182 Km) 1,492
11 Palanpur-Samakhayali Doubling (247 Km) 2,538
12 Mahesana-Palanpur Doubling (65 Km) 537
Page 11 of 13S.No. Name of Project Cost
(₹ in Cr.)
13 Surendranagar-Rajkot Doubling (116 Km) 1,425
14 Anand-Godhara Doubling (79 Km) 692
15 Vatva-Ahmedabad 3rd Line (8 Km) 61
16 Viramgram-Surendranagar Doubling (65 Km) 382
17 Udhna-Jalgaon Doubling (307 Km) 2,448
Ongoing Projects:
Details of some of the projects falling fully/partly in the State of Gujarat
which have been taken up are as under:
S. No. Project Cost
(₹ in Cr.)
1 Naliya-Jakhau Port New Line (25 Km) 410
2 Miyagam Karjan – Choranda - Malsar Gauge 450
Conversion (37 Km)
3 Jambusar-Kavi Gauge Conversion (26 Km) 318
4 Kosamba-Umarpada Gauge Conversion (70 Km) 468
5 Khijadiya - Amreli Gauge Conversion (17 Km) 178
6 Barejadi - Nandej (Geratpur) - Sanand 4th Line 962
(38 Km)
7 Samakhiali-Gandhidham Quadrupling (53 Km) 1,430
8 Vishvamitri-Dabhoi Doubling (33 Km) 394
9 Taranga Hill-Ambaji-Abu Road New Line (116 Km) 2,798
10 Sabarmati D Cabin-Sarkhej Doubling (21 Km) 323
11 Deshalpar – Hajipir - Luna and Vayor - Lakhpat 2,526
New Line (145 Km)
12 Vadodara-Ratlam 3rd & 4th Line (259 Km) 8,387
13 Rajkot-Kanalus Doubling (111 Km) 1,081
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
Page 12 of 13 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.
*****
Page 13 of 13