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GOVERNMENT OF INDIA
MINISTRY OF RAILWAYS
LOK SABHA
UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 4232
TO BE ANSWERED ON 18.03.2026
NEW RAILWAY LINE BETWEEN LAKSHMIKANTAPUR AND RAMGANGA
4232. SHRI JAGANNATH SARKAR:
Will the Minister of RAILWAYS be pleased to state:
(a) whether the Government has received fresh representations from the
Patharpratima Press Club and several Gram Panchayats of the
Sundarbans demanding construction of a new railway line between
Lakshmikantapur and Ramganga to improve connectivity, healthcare
access, disaster response and local economic development and if so,
the details thereof;
(b) whether the Government is aware that a Preliminary Engineering-cum-
Traffic (PET) survey conducted during April 2010 that proposed a 59
kilometre route via Mandir Bazar, Patharpratima and Krishnachandrapur
but Eastern Railway has confirmed that no sanctioned work presently
exists for this stretch and if so, the details thereof;
(c) whether a fresh feasibility study will be undertaken and if so, the details
thereof; and
(d) the details of the steps being considered to include this project in
upcoming railway expansion plans?
ANSWER
MINISTER OF RAILWAYS, INFORMATION & BROADCASTING AND
ELECTRONICS & INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
(SHRI ASHWINI VAISHNAW)
(a) to (d): A feasibility study for Sangrampur-Mandirbazar-Ramganga-
Patharpratima new line (59 Km) was carried out and a part of this route
i.e.Sangrampur-Krishanchandrapur (25 Km) new line was sanctioned.
However, the project is kept in abeyance due to non acquisition of land by
the State Government of West Bengal.
§West Bengal
Railway Budget:
Budget allocation in the recent years has increased significantly. Budget
allotment of projects is made commensurate to the progress achieved in
any project. Budget allocation for infrastructure projects and safety works,
falling fully/partly in the State of West Bengal is as under:-
Period Outlay
2009-14 Rs.4,380 Cr./year
2025-26 Rs. 13,955 Cr. (More than 3 times)
Projects Sanctioned:
As on 01.04.2025, 42 projects (12 New Lines, 04 Gauge Conversions and 26
Doubling), of total length of 4402 Km, costing ₹67,991 crore falling
fully/partly in the State of West Bengal are sanctioned, out of which, 1702
km length has been commissioned and an expenditure of ₹23,410 crore
has been incurred upto March, 2025. The summary is as under:
Category No. of Total Length Total Exp. upto
projects Length Commissioned March, 2025
(in Km) till March, 2025 (Rs. in Cr.)
(in Km)
New Lines 12 1,032 337 11,368
Gauge
Conversio 4 1,201 854 3,673
n
Doubling/
Multi- 26 2,169 511 8,370
tracking
Total 42 4,402 1,702 23,410Recently Completed Projects:
Details of some of the recently completed projects falling fully/partly in the
State of West Bengal are as under:
Cost
S.
Project
No.
(Rs. in Cr.)
1 Rampurhat-Mandarhill new line and Rampurhat- 1,500
Murarai 3rd line (159 Km)
2 Azimganj-Murshidabad new line (7 Km) 164
3 Bardhaman-Katwa Gauge Conversion (52 Km) 696
4 Ahmedpur-Katwa Gauge Conversion (52 Km) 440
5 Panskura Kharagpur Doubling (45 Km) 408
6 Lalgola – Jiaganj Doubling (23 Km) 124
7 Krishnanagar-Bethuadahari Doubling (28 Km) 152
8 Nabadwipdham-Patuli Doubling (22 Km) 170
9 Bethuadhahari-Plassey Doubling (23 km) 132
10 Ambikakalna-Nabadwipdham Doubling (23 km) 145
11 Nalhati-Sagardighi Doubling (26 km) 193
12 Tamluk Jn.- Basulya Sutahata Doubling (24 km) 245
13 Plassey- Jiaganj Doubling (54 km) 234
14 Azimganj-Manigram Doubling (21 km) 150
15 New Coochbehar-Gumanihat Doubling (29 km) 330
16 New Coochbehar-Samuktala Road Doubling (29 445
km)
17 Sainthia-Tarapith 3rd line (22 Km) 186
18 Ambari Falakata-New Maynaguri Doubling (37 843
km)
19 Bandel-Boinchi - 3rd line (31 km) 546
20 Boinchi-Shaktigarh 3rd line (26 km) 424Cost
S.
Project
No.
(Rs. in Cr.)
21 Bazar Sau-Azimganj Jn. Doubling (42 km) 343
22 Sagardighi- Malda Town Doubling (25 Km) 248
23 Kharagpur-Narayangarh 3rd line (24 km) 270
24 Monigram-Nimtita Doubling (24 Km) 713
25 Purulia-Kotshila Doubling (36 Km) 393
Ongoing Projects:
Some of the projects falling fully/partly in the State of West Bengal which
have been taken up are as under:
SN. Project Cost
(Rs. in Cr.)
1 Chandil-Purulia-Anara-Damodar 3rd Line(121 Km) 1,932
2 Tarakeshwar-Bishnupur New Line (83 Km) 1,542
3 Sivok-Rangpo New Line (44 Km) 11,973
4 Balurghat-Hilli New Line (30 Km) 1,209
5 Kaliyaganj-Buniadpur New Line (33 Km) 1,147
6 Katihar-Kumedpur and Katihar-Mukuria Doubling 943
(65 Km)
7 Kharagpur-Adityapur 3rd line (132 Km) 3,250
8 Narayangarh-Bhadrak 3rd line (153 Km) 2,136
9 Kalipahari-Bakhtarnagar 5th Line (18Km) 350
10 Dankuni-Baltikuri 3rd & 4th line (18 Km) 429
11 Murarai-Barharwa 3rd Line (49 Km) 935
12 Ranaghat-Krishnanagar City 3rd Line (26 Km) 446
13 Aluabari Road-New Jalpaiguri 3rd & 4th Line (57 1,630
Km)14 Sainthia-Pakur 4th Line (81 Km) 1,569
15 Santragachi- Kharagpur 4th Line (111 Km) 2,905
Land Acquisition Status:
Execution of important infrastructure projects falling fully/partly in the
State of West Bengal are held up due to delay in land acquisition. Status of
land acquisition in West Bengal is as under:
Total Land required 4,662 Ha
Land Acquired 1,273 Ha (27%)
Balance Land to be acquired 3,389 Ha (73%)
Projects Delayed Due to Land Acquisition:
Details of some major projects which are delayed due to land acquisition
are as under:
SN Name of the project Total Land Balance Amount
land acquired Land to Paid to
required (in Ha) be State
(in Ha) acquired (in Cr.)
(in Ha)
1. Chandil-Anara- 8 0 8 0
Burnpur - 3rd line
2. Nabadwipghat- 107 0 107 50
Nabadwipdham new
line
3. Byepass at Sainthia 22 0 22 0
4. Naihati – Ranaghat 3rd 13 0 13 1.3
line
5. Sivok-Rangpo new line 135 128 7 7.98
6. Kaliyaganj-Buniadpur 168 0 168 0new line
7. Canning- Bagankhali 18 0 18 0
new line
8. Adra- Sanka- Rukni 5 0 5 0
doubling
9. Kalipahari- 15 0 15 0
Bakhtarnagar 5th line
10. Rail Flyover at Anara 35 0 35 0
from Rukni to Anara
station
11. Rail Flyover at 34 0 34 0
Gourinathdham end to
Purulia
12. Chandanpur 5 0 5 0
Shaktigarh 4th Line
Further, Tarakeshwar-Bishnupur (83 Km) New Line Project is held up since
2016 due to non-cooperation by state Govt. of West Bengal. The work was
stopped by local villagers in about 900 m length near “Bhabadighi” pond in
Hooghly district. Honourable High Court, Kolkata in March, 2025 directed
State Govt of WB to provide all necessary support and deploy adequate
police force to enable the Railways to commence the work within 3
months.
Deshpran -Nandigram (18.5 km) Line was sanctioned in 2009-10 at cost of
₹121.44 crores. The entire Project length is located in East Midnapore
District. The project could not progress due to problems in land acquisition
and was kept in abeyance. In April 2023 it was decided to re-start the
work. However, Survey for Land Acquisition from Deshpran to 5.0 Km could
not be completed due to law and order issues. As Deshpran is theconnecting station, acquisition of this land is essential for commissioning
of this project.
Zonal Railway wise details of Railway projects are made available in public
domain on Indian Railway’s website.
Several meetings have been held with officials of Government of West
Bengal for land acquisition for the above projects.
Kolkata Metro :
Metro project in Kolkata started in 1972. The details of the Metro
commissioned since then are as under:
Period Metro Commissioned
1972 to 2014 (42 years) 28 km
2014 to 2025 (11 years) 45 km
The details of Metro Corridors commissioned are as under:
S.No. Metro Corridor Section Commissioned
Kavi Subash – Noapara (28 This Corridor commissioned before
1 Km) year 2014 (This required about 42
(Blue Line) years to complete)
Noapara – Dakshineswar This Corridor commissioned in 2020-
2 (4.14 Km) (Extension of Blue 21
Line)
Noapara – Jaihind Airport - Noapara – Jaihind Airport section
3 Barasat (18 Km) (Yellow (6.77 Km) Commissioned in 2025-26
Line)
Joka – Majerhat - Esplanade Joka – Majerhat section (7.74 Km)
4 (14 KM) (Purple Line) Commissioned in stages from 2022
to 2024New Garia - Belaghata - New Garia – Belaghata (9.8 Km)
5 Dumdum Airport (32 Km) Commissioned in stages between
(Orange Line) 2023-26
Howrah Maidan – Salt Lake This Corridor commissioned in
6 Sec. V (16.55 Km) (Green stages from 2019 to 2025
Line)
Further, work pertaining to 4 Metro corridors at total length of about 52 km
is under progress, out of which 20 km of work is held up due to land
acquisition and utility shifting issues pertaining to State Government. In
the rest of the Metro stretch, though the work is in progress yet facing
difficulties due to one or other reasons at the end of State Government.
Details are as below:
(i) Noapara – Jaihind Airport - Barasat (18 km): Noapara - Jai Hind
Airport (6.77 km) has been commissioned and work from Jai Hind Airport to
Michael Nagar is in progress. However, work from New Barrackpore to
Barasat (7.5 km) is held up due to land acquisition and encroachment
issues by State authorities.
SN Location Issues
1. New Land acquisition (23,000 sq. m) and
Barrackpore to removal of heavy encroachments (1277
Barasat hutments, 764 shops) are involved in this
section.
The matter is not yet resolved by
Government of West Bengal (GoWB).
(ii) Joka –Majerhat - Esplanade (14 km):- Joka - Majerhat (7.74 km) has
been commissioned and balance work from Majerhat to Esplanade (6.26
km) has been taken up. However, progress of the work is affected due to
the following issues:SN Location Issues
1. Khidderpur For utility shifting and road traffic diversion, 837
Metro sqm permanent and 1,702 sqm temporary land of
Station State Government (Kolkata Armed Police) is
required. The proposal of this land was sent to
State Government on 24.08.2020.
Several meetings were held with officials of
Government of West Bengal (GoWB) for transfer
of above land.
After lot of persuasion, State Government finally
accorded approval in July 2025 only after almost
5 years.
2. Dr. B.C. Roy For construction of Esplanade Metro Station,
Market temporary shifting of unauthorised 528 Shops at
B.C. Roy Market on Defence land is required.
The proposal for NOC of temporary/permanent
shifting of these shops was submitted to State
Government in February 2022. Shops for
temporary shifting of these unauthorized shops
have also been constructed by Railway.
The State Government has been requested to
facilitate shifting. Regular follow up with State
PWD is also being done.
Issue is pending for more than 3.5 years.
(iii) New Garia –Belaghata - Dum Dum Airport (32 km): New Garia -
Belaghata (9.8 km) has been commissioned and balance work from
Belaghata to Dum Dum Airport (22.2 km) has been taken up. However,
progress of the work is affected due to the following issues:SN Location Issues
1. Chingrighata Temporary traffic diversion at Chingrighata
Crossing crossing for launching of viaduct segments is
(Between required for 3 nights each on either side of the
Beleghata – road (8 hours on every night).
Gour Kishore The proposal was submitted to Government of
Ghosh West Bengal (GoWB) in December 2024.
stations) The diversion road as desired by Kolkata
traffic police has already been constructed in
February 2025.
Since then, several meetings have been held
with various State Government and Kolkata
police officials for NOC.
The NOC is still awaited even after about 12
months.
(iv) Baranagar - Barrackpore - Dakshineshwar (14.5 km): Baranagar -
Dakshineshwar (2 km) has been commissioned and balance work from
Baranagar to Barrackpore (12.5 km) is held up due to pending utility
shifting in the alignment by state government authorities. The details are
as below:
SN Location Issues
1. Baranagar The original alignment along the B.T road was
to agreed in 2011 as per MoU among Metro
Barrackpore Railway, RVNL and Kolkata Municipal
Corporation.
As per MoU, existing pipeline was to be
replaced by new 64-inch diameter pipeline by
the State Government. Shifting of this pipeline was completed in 2012.
However, NOC is still awaited from Government
of West Bengal.
Sanction of any railway project depend 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
Demands raised by State Governments/Central Ministries/Public
representatives,
Railway’s own operational requirements
Socio-economic considerations
Overall availability of funds
Completion of Railway project/s depends on various factors which include
the following:
Land acquisition by State Government
Forest clearance
Shifting of infringing utilities b
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.
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