Parliament Question: Number of Railway Zones in Karnataka

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF RAILWAYS LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 1737 TO BE ANSWERED ON 10.12.2025 NUMBER OF RAILWAY ZONES IN KARNATAKA 1737. SHRI G KUMAR NAIK: Will the Minister of RAILWAYS be pleased to state: (a) the total number of railway zones in the country and the railway density in each zone, State/UT-wise; (b) the railway density in Karnataka, district-wise; (c) whether the Government has a policy that defines the minimum railway density required to adequately meet public transportation needs and support economic growth and if so, the details thereof; (d) whether the existing railway density is sufficient to meet the needs of the people and if so, the details thereof; and (e) the details of any schemes/initiatives proposed by the Government to enhance railway density in Karnataka? ANSWER MINISTER OF RAILWAYS, INFORMATION & BROADCASTING AND ELECTRONICS & INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY (SHRI ASHWINI VAISHNAW) (a) to (e) : There are 17 Railway Zones operational (including Metro Railway, Kolkata) in the country. Further, foundation stone of new South Coast Railway (SCoR) zone has been laid recently. Page 1 of 7The details of Zonal Railway wise route km is given below: - Route Km. S.No. Railway (as on 31.03.2025) 1 Central 4353 2 Eastern 2855 3 East Central 4400 4 East Coast 3162 5 Northern 7477 6 North Central 3518 7 North Eastern 3494 8 Northeast Frontier 4412 9 North Western 5613 10 Southern 5104 11 South Central 6637 12 South Eastern 2749 13 South East Central 2448 14 South Western 3711 15 Western 6284 16 West Central 3177 17 Metro, Kolkata 45 Total 69,439 The new SCoR zone is in the process of setting up. Railway network in any area depends upon the population density of that area, terrain, geographical features, etc. Therefore, Railway density varies from region to region. The rail infrastructure augmentation plan inter-alia focuses on the network capacity enhancement, removal of bottlenecks, increasing average speed of freight trains, reduction in cargo transit time and cost. Further, to improve capacity of existing network, several capacity enhancement/augmentation survey/works have been sanctioned by railways. These works include multi tracking, rail flyovers, by pass lines, yard remodelling works etc. Page 2 of 7Railway projects are surveyed/sanctioned/executed Zonal Railway wise and not State-wise/District wise as the Railway projects may span across State boundaries. Railway projects are sanctioned on the basis of remunerativeness, traffic projections, last mile connectivity, missing links and alternate routes, augmentation of congested/saturated lines, demands raised by State Governments, Central Ministries, Members of Parliament, other public representatives, Railway’s own operational requirement, socio- economic considerations etc. depending upon throw forward of ongoing projects and overall availability of funds. As on 01.04.2025, across Indian Railways, 431 Railway infrastructure projects (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: - Total Length Total Exp No of Length Commissioned upto Category Projects NL/GC/DL till Mar'25 Mar'25 (km) (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/year-wise details of all Railway projects are made available in public domain on Indian Railway’s website. 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 8.57 Km/day (more than 2 times) Page 3 of 7Karnataka: - Budget allocation in the recent years has increased significantly. Budget allocation for infrastructure projects and safety works, 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) As 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: - Length No of Total Exp upto Commissioned Category sanctioned Length Mar'25 Upto Mar'25 Projects (in km) (₹ in cr.) (km) New Line 15 2,034 421 8,794 Doubling/ 10 1,230 973 12,516 Multitracking Total 25 3,264 1,394 21,310 Details of some of the recently completed projects falling fully/partly in Karnataka are as under: - Cost S.No Project (₹in Crores) 1 Kottur-Harihar new line (65 km) 468 2 Hassan-Bangalore 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 Ramanagram-Mysore patch doubling (94 km) 998 8 Yelahanka – Chennasadra doubling (13 km) 108 9 Yeshwantpur-Yelahanka doubling (12 km) 95 10 Netrawati-Mangalore Central doubling (2 km) 28 Page 4 of 711 Kankanadi-Panambur doubling (19 km) 350 12 Arsikere-Tumkur doubling (96 km) 758 13 Yelahanka-Penukonda doubling (123 km) 1,104 14 Daund-Gulbarga doubling (225 km) 3,182 15 Hubli-Chikjajur doubling (190 km) 1,850 Some of the projects falling fully/partly in Karnataka which have been taken up are as under: - Cost S No. Project (₹in Crores) Hospet-Hubli-Londa-Vasco-de-Gama doubling 1 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 Tumkur – Rayadurga new line (207 km) 2,496 7 Tumkur – Davangere new line (182 km) 2,142 8 Kadur – Chikmagalur – Belur new line (68 km) 825 9 Baiyyapanahalli – Hosur doubling (48 km) 336 10 Yeshwanthpur – Channasandra doubling (22 km) 314 In last three years i.e. 2022-23, 2023-24, 2024-25 and current financial year 2025-26, 65 surveys (25 new line and 40 doubling) covering a total length of 7,239 km has been sanctioned falling fully/partly in the State of Karnataka. Page 5 of 7Details of some major projects which are delayed due to land acquisition are as under: - Balance Total Land Land Land S No. Project acquired to be required (in Ha) acquired (in Ha) (in Ha) Shimoga –Rannebennur 1 559 226 333 new line (96 km) Belgaum – Dharwad new 2 581 0 581 line (73 km) Shimoga – Harihar new 3 488 0 488 line (79 km) Whitefield-Kolar new line 4 337 0 337 (53 km) Hassan-Belur new line 5 206 0 206 (32 km) Summary of the status of land acquisition in Karnataka is as under:- Total Land required for Projects in 9,020 Ha Karnataka Land Acquired 5,679 Ha (63%) Balance Land to be acquired 3,341 Ha (37%) Government of India is geared up to execute projects, however success depends upon the support of Government of Karnataka. 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, Page 6 of 7 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  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 7 of 7