Parliament Question: National Rail Plan

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF RAILWAYS LOK SABHA STARRED QUESTION NO. 526 TO BE ANSWERED ON 01.04.2026 NATIONAL RAIL PLAN *526. SHRI THARANIVENTHAN M S:

Will the Minister of RAILWAYS be pleased to state:

(a) the details of the objectives and features of the National Rail Plan;

(b) the details of the total estimated cost of implementing the plan and the funds allocated/utilised till date under it;

(c) the details of major projects, including new rail corridors/track doubling/electrification/capacity enhancement proposed under the plan;

(d) the details of the progress made till date in achieving the targets set under the plan to increase the share of freight transport by rail under the Railway network; and

(e) the details of the steps taken by the Government to ensure timely implementation of the projects envisaged under the National Rail Plan and their expected impact on economic growth, logistics efficiency and regional connectivity across the country including Tamil Nadu? ANSWER MINISTER OF RAILWAYS, INFORMATION & BROADCASTING AND ELECTRONICS & INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY (SHRI ASHWINI VAISHNAW)

(a) to (e): A Statement is laid on the Table of the House. ***** §STATEMENT REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO PARTS (a) TO (e) OF STARRED QUESTION NO.526 TO BE ANSWERED ON 01.04.2026 IN LOK SABHA

(a) to (e): Indian Railway has taken several measures during the last few years to enhance the freight loading and revenue. To increase the capacity, plan has been made for capacity enhancement, rolling stock augmentation etc. Freight loading since 2014 is as below:

Year Freight loading (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 1,400 1,512 1,300 1,210 1,162 1,200 1,104 1,100 1,223 1,233 1,098 1,109 1,000 Page 1 of 12 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)The freight loading of Indian Railways has increased to 1,617 MT in 2024- 25 thus IR has become the second largest freight carrying Railways in the world.

Budget allocation and Network Expansion:

The Budget allocation has been increased from ₹29,055 Cr in 2013-14 to ₹2,78,000 Cr in 2026-27. 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:- 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 (km) Commissioned upto Mar’25 till Mar’25 (km) (₹ in Cr) 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 and year-wise details of all railway projects are available in the public domain on the Indian Railways website.

Page 2 of 12During last three years i.e. FY 2022-23, 2023-24, 2024-25 and the current FY 2025-26, 306 projects (53 New Line, 17 Gauge Conversion and 236 Doubling) of total length 13,968 Km have been sanctioned across Indian Railways.

Some of the Projects recently completed are as follows:

Length SN Name of project (in Kms) Udhampur- Srinagar- Baramulla new line 272 1 2 Bhairabi - Sairang New Line 51 3 Deoband - Roorkee New Line 27 4 Churu - Ratangarh Doubling 43 5 Tori-Shivpur 3rd Line 44 6 Araria - Galgalia New Line 110 7 Himmatnagar - Khedbrahma Guage Conversion 55 8 Bahraich- Nanpara -Nepalganj Guage Conversion 56 Domingarh- Gorakhpur -Kusumi 3rd Line & Gorakhpur - 9 21 Nakaha Doubling 10 Vijapur - Ambaliyasan Guage Conversion 43 11 Pune- Miraj -Londa Doubling 467 12 Manmad - Jalgaon 3rd Line 160 13 Phephna –Indara- Mau -Shahganj Doubling 150 14 Adraj -Moti -Vijapur Guage Conversion 40 15 Katni -Bina 3rd Line 279 16 Gandhidham- Adipur Quadrupling 21 17 Khatuwas - Narnaul Doubling 24 18 Penukonda- Dharmavaram Doubling 42 Page 3 of 12Some of the major projects sanctioned are as follows:

SN Project Name Cost (₹ in Crore) 1 Chopan – Chunar doubling (102 Km) 1,553 2 Guntur – Bibinagar doubling (239 Km) 3,238 3 Mudkhed – Medchal & Mahbubnagar – Dhone doubling 5,655 (418 Km) 4 Samakhiali – Gandhidham Quadrupling (53 Km) 1,571 5 Merta City – Ras & Bypass at Merta Road new line (56 1,038 Km) 6 Lumding – Furkating doubling (140 Km) 2,334 7 Ajmer – Chanderiya doubling (178 Km) 1,813 8 Motumari – Vishnupuram with RoR doubling (100 Km) 1,746 9 Bikramshila – Katareah new line with new bridge on river 2,549 ganga (26 Km) 10 Gunupur – Therubali new line (74 Km) 1,326 11 Malkangiri – Pandurangapuram new line (174 Km) 4,109 12 Badampahar – Kendujhargarh new line (82 Km) 2,106 13 Junagarh – Nabarangpur new line (116 Km) 3,274 14 Buramara – Chakulia new line (60 Km) 1,639 15 Jalna – Jalgaon new line (174 Km) 7,105 16 Bangriposi – Gorumahisani new line (86 Km) 2,549 17 Chandil – Anara – Damodar 3rd line (121 Km) 2,170 18 Bargarh Road – Nawapara Road new line (138 Km) 2,926 19 Sardega – Bhalumuda new double line (37 Km) 1,360 20 Varanasi – Pt. Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Multitracking with 2,642 rail cum road bridge on river ganga (15 Km) 21 Jalgaon – Manmad 4th line (160 Km) 2,773 22 Bhusawal – Khandwa 3rd & 4th line (131 Km) 3,514 Page 4 of 12SN Project Name Cost (₹ in Crore) 23 Sambalpur – Jarapada 3rd & 4th line (127 Km) 3,916 24 Jharsuguda – Sason 3rd & 4th line (35 Km) 1,181 25 Gondia – Ballarshah doubling (240 Km) 4,819 26 Kharsia – Naya Raipur – Parmalkasa 5th & 6th line (278 8,741 Km) 27 Wardha – Balharshah Quadrupling (135 Km) 2,381 28 Ballari – Chikjajur doubling (185 Km) 3,342 29 Koderma – Barkakana doubling (133 Km) 3,063 30 Itarsi – Nagpur 4th line (297 Km) 5,451 31 Dangoaposi – Jaroli 3rd & 4th line (43 Km) 1,752 32 Secunderabad – Wadi 3rd & 4th line (173 Km) 5,012 33 Furkating – New Tinsukia doubling (194 Km) 3,634 34 Bakhtiyarpur – Rajgir – Tilaiya doubling (104 Km) 2,192 35 Gondia – Dongargarh 4th line (84 Km) 2,223 36 Wardha – Bhusawal 3rd & 4th line (314 Km) 9,197 37 Hosapete – Bellary quadrupling (65 Km) 2,372 38 Kasara – Manmad 3rd & 4th line (131 Km) 10,154 39 Punarakh – Kiul 3rd & 4th line (50 Km) 2,668 40 Gamharia – Chandil 3rd & 4th line (55 Km) 1,168 41 Sainthia- Pakhur 4th Line (81 Km) 1,569 42 Santragachi- Kharagpur 4th line (111 Km) 2,905 43 Nergundi – Barang &Khurda Road – Vizianagaram 3rd line 5,618 (385 Km) 44 Son Nagar – Andal 3rd and 4th Line (375 Km) 13,606 45 Gorakhpur Cantt – Valmiki Nagar doubling (96 Km) 1,270 46 Jaipur – Sawai Madhopur doubling (131 Km) 1,269 Page 5 of 12SN Project Name Cost (₹ in Crore) 47 Luni – Samdari – Bhildi doubling (272 Km) 3,531 48 Narkatiaganj – Raxaul – Sitamarhi – Darbhanga & 4,553 Sitamarhi – Muzaffarpur doubling (256 Km) 49 Prayagraj (Iradatganj) – Manikpur 3rd line (84 Km) 1,640 50 Tirupati – Pakala – Katpadi doubling (104 Km) 1,332 51 Ratlam – Nagda 3rd and 4th line (41 Km) 1,018 52 Aluabari Road – New Jalpaiguri 3rd & 4th line (57 Km) 1,786 53 Aurangabad (Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar) – Parbhani (177 2,179 Km) 54 Bhagalpur – Dumka – Rampurhat doubling (177 Km) 3,169 55 Itarsi – Bina 4th line (237 Km) 4,329 56 Vadodara – Ratlam 3rd & 4th line (259 Km) 8,885 57 Devbhumi Dwarka (Okha) – Kanalus doubling (141 Km) 1,457 58 Badlapur – Karjat 3rd and 4th line (32 Km) 1,324 59 Delhi – Ambala Cantt 3rd & 4th line (194 Km) 5,983 60 Gondia – Jabalpur doubling (231 Km) 5,236 61 Manmad – Indore new line (360 Km) 18,529 62 Errupelam – Amaravati – Nambur new line (57 Km) 2,245 63 Vadhavan Port and New Palghar station new double line 1,507 (22 Km) 64 Deshalpar – Hajipir – Luna and Vayor – Lakhpat new line 2,526 (145 Km) 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 Page 6 of 12Corridor (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 (102 Rkm) is in the advanced stage.

Further, during Budget 2026-27, new DFC corridor between Dankuni and Surat has also been announced.

Railway Electrification:

Electrification of railway network on Indian Railways has been taken up in mission mode. So far, about 99.4% of Broad Gauge (BG) network has been electrified and electrification for remaining network has been taken up.

Electrification carried out during 2014-25 and before 2014 is as under:

Period Route Kilometer Electrified Before 2014 21,801 km 2014–25 46,900 km

Freight Development Initiative:

In order to boost investment from industry in development of additional terminals for handling rail cargos, ‘Gati Shakti Multi-Modal Cargo Terminal

(GCT)’ policy has been launched. The Gati Shakti Cargo Terminals (GCTs) are being developed by private investment, and can be developed on non- Railway land or fully / partially on Railway land. The location of GCTs is being decided on the basis of demand from industry and potential of Cargo traffic. So far, 128 GCTs have been commissioned (includes 4 in Tamil Nadu) with an estimated traffic capacity of 198 million tonnes per annum

(MTPA). Further, In-principle approval (IPAs) for 292 more GCT locations (includes 11 locations in Tamil Nadu) have already been approved.

Page 7 of 12Procurement of Wagons and Locomotives:

To increase freight carrying capacity, large numbers of IR wagons have been procured and locomotives have been manufactured. During 2014 to 2025, about 2 lakh wagons have been procured and more than 10,000 locomotives have been added for increasing freight loading and mobility.

Industry participation in investment in General Purpose Wagons, Special Purpose/High-Capacity wagons and Automobile carrier wagons for cement, oil, steel, fly-ash, automobile etc. By the FY 2024-25, around 240 rakes of special purpose wagons, 374 rakes of general-purpose, wagons and 48 rakes of automobile wagons have been inducted.

Further, Indian Railway has taken various steps to promote the improvement of freight segment through freight rationalization, adoption of various freight incentive schemes for transportation of bulk and small cargo & various concession and services.

Projects in Tamil Nadu:

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 than7.5 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.

Page 8 of 12Details of some of the recently completed projects falling fully/partly in

Tamil Nadu are as under:

Cost SN Project (₹in Crores) 1 Dindigul-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 (357 1,122 km) 5 Mayiladuturai-Thiruvarur-Karaikkudi gauge conversion 1,338 (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 15 Chengalpattu-Villupuram and Tambaram-Chengalpattu- 1,122 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 km) 18 Page 9 of 12Some of the projects falling fully/partly in the State of Tamil Nadu which

have been taken up are as under:

Cost SN 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 - Ambattur 5th & 6th lines (6 Km) 178 7 Irugur-Podanur doubling (11 Km) 277 8 Tambaram-Chengalpattu 4th Line (30 km) 757 9 Attipattu-Gummidipundi 3rd& 4th line (23 km) 375 10 Tirupati-Pakala-Katpadi doubling (105 km) 1332 11 Tindivanam-Gingee-Tiruvannamalai New Line (71 1400 Km) 12 Atipattu – Puttur New Line (88 Km) 1700 13 Chennai – Cuddulore via Mahabalipuram New Line 2670 (179 Km) 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 Nadu 4,326 ha 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.

Page 10 of 12Details of some major projects which are delayed due to land acquisition

are asunder:- 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)

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 (52 152 0 152 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.

Railway Infrastructure projects enable socio-economic development of the

region including:  Better connectivity of the region with other parts of the country  Faster movement of goods and services  Improving logistics efficiency and reduction in transportation cost.  Enhance line capacity Page 11 of 12 Increase in direct and indirect employment opportunities for the people of the region  Reduced operational bottlenecks  Development of tourism industry and increase in industrial activities in the region.

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 projects.

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.

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