Parliament Question: Pending railway projects in Chhattisgarh

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF RAILWAYS RAJYA SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 3328 ANSWERED ON 20.03.2026 PENDING RAILWAY PROJECTS IN CHHATTISGARH 3328 SHRI RAJEEV SHUKLA: Will the Minister of RAILWAYS be pleased to state: (a) whether the Ministry is aware of the present state of the pending railway projects in Chhattisgarh; (b) if so, the details thereof, project-wise; (c) whether the Ministry has set any timeline for completion of the pending railway projects in Chhattisgarh; and (d) if so, the details thereof and the budgetary provisions and actual expenses for these projects during the last three financial years and the current financial year? ANSWER MINISTER OF RAILWAYS, INFORMATION & BROADCASTING AND ELECTRONICS & INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY (SHRI ASHWINI VAISHNAW) (a) to (d): Budget allocation in the recent years has increased significantly. Budget allocation for infrastructure projects and safety works, falling fully/partly in the State of Chhattisgarh is as under: Period Outlay 2009-2014 ₹311 Cr./year 2025-2026 ₹6,925 Cr. (more than 22 times) Track Construction: The details of construction of new track falling fully/partly in the State of Chhattisgarh during 2009- 14 and 2014-25 is as under: New Track Period Average Commissioning of new tracks Commissioned 2009-14 32 Km 6.4 Km per year 2014-25 1,189 Km 108.1 Km per year (nearly 17 times) Contd…2 §-2- Projects Sanctioned: As on 01.04.2025, 26 projects (6 New Line and 20 Doubling), covering a total length of 1,932 Km length, costing ₹31,619 crore, falling fully/partly in the State of Chhattisgarh, have been sanctioned, out of which 1,023 Km length has been commissioned and an expenditure of ₹16,325 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 (Km) upto March, 2025 (₹ in Cr.) (in Km) New Line 6 609 184 6,154 Multi- 20 1,323 839 10,171 tracking/Doubling Total 26 1,932 1,023 16,325 Recently Completed Projects: Details of some of the recently completed projects falling fully/partly in the State of Chhattisgarh are as under: S.No. Name of Project Cost (₹ in Cr.) 1 Salka Road-Khongsara doubling (26 Km) 181 2 Durg-Rajnandgaon doubling (31 Km) 250 3 Khodri-Anuppur doubling with flyover at Bilaspur (72 Km) 792 4 Bilaspur-Urkura 3rd line (110 Km) 365 5 Champa-Jharsuguda 3rd line (152 Km) 1,227 6 Pendra Road–Annupur 3rd line (50 Km) 394 Ongoing Projects: Some of the projects falling fully/partly in the State of Chhattisgarh which have been taken up are as under: S.No. Name of Project Cost (₹ in Cr.) 1 Dallirajhara-Rowghat new line (95 Km) 1,627 2 Rowghat-Jagdalpur new line (140 Km) 3,513 3 Gevra Road-Pendra Road new line (135 Km) 3,724 4 Dharamjaigarh-Korba new line (63 Km) 1,686 5 Sardega-Bhalumunda new double line (37 Km) 1,282 6 Kirandul-Jagdalpur doubling (150 Km) 1,500 7 Jagdalpur-Koraput doubling (107 Km) 1,547 8 Jharsuguda-Bilaspur 4th line (206 Km) 2,596 9 Rajnandgaon-Nagpur 3rd line (228 Km) 3,545 10 Boridand-Ambikapur doubling (80 Km) 1,243 Contd…3 §-3- 11 Rajnandgaon-Dongargarh 4th line (31 Km) 328 12 Bhatapara-Hathbandh 4th line (16 Km) 177 13 Kharsia-Parmalkasa 5th and 6th line (278 Km) 7,854 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. Amrit Bharat Stations: Ministry of Railways has launched Amrit Bharat Station Scheme for redevelopment of stations with a long-term approach. The scheme involves preparation of master plans and their implementation in phases to improve the stations. The master planning includes:  Improvement of access to station and circulating areas  Integration of station with both sides of city  Improvement of station building  Improvement of waiting halls, toilets, sitting arrangement, water booths  Provision of wider foot over bridge/air concourse commensurate with passenger traffic  Provision of lift/escalators/ramp  Improvement /Provision of platform surface and cover over platforms  Provision of kiosks for local products through schemes like ‘One Station One Product’  Parking areas, Multimodal integration  Amenities for Divyangjans  Better passenger information systems  Provision of executive lounges, nominated spaces for business meetings, landscaping, etc. keeping in view the necessity at each station. Contd…4 §-4- The scheme also envisages sustainable and environment friendly solutions, provision of ballastless tracks etc. as per necessity, phasing and feasibility and creation of city centre at the station in the long term. So far, 1,338 stations have been identified for development under the Amrit Bharat Station Scheme. Out of these, 32 stations are located in Chhattisgarh. The name of stations identified under Amrit Bharat Station Scheme in Chhattisgarh are as following: No. of State Name of Stations Stations Chhattisgarh 32 Akaltara, Ambikapur, Baikunthpur Road, Balod, Baradwar, Belha, Bhanupratappur, Bhatapara, Bhilai, Bhilai Nagar, Bhilai Power House, Bilaspur, Champa, Dallirajhara, Dongargarh, Durg, Hathbandh, Jagdalpur, Janjgir Naila, Korba, Mahasamund, Mandir Hasaud, Marauda, Nipania, Pendra Road, Raigarh, Raipur Jn, Raj Nandgaon, Sarona, Tilda-Neora, Urkura, Uslapur Completed stations: Development works at railway stations under Amrit Bharat Station Scheme in Chhattisgarh have been taken up at a good pace. Till now, works of 05 stations have been completed. The name of stations completed in Chhattisgarh are as following: State No. of stations Name of stations Chhattisgarh 05 Ambikapur, Bhanupratappur, Bhilai, Dongargarh, Urkura The activities for development at other stations have also been taken up at good pace and progress of some of the stations is as given below:  Bhilai Power House station: The works of new second entry station building, improvement of main entry station building, platform upgradation, improvement of waiting areas, development of circulating area, parking, lifts, escalators and 12 m Foot Over Bridge have been completed. The finishing works of station building and improvement of illumination on platforms have been taken up.  Dallirajhara station: The works of improvement of station building, waiting areas, toilet, platform upgradation and Public Address System have been completed. The works of improvement of circulating area, landscaping, art & culture works, signage and improvement of illumination on platforms have been taken up.  Raipur Junction station: The works of utility shifting and relocation at second entry side Contd…5 §-5- have been completed. The structural works of second entry station building, multi level parking facility on both main and second entry side, service buildings and development of circulating area at second entry side have been taken up.  Sarona station: The works of new second entry station building, improvement of main entry station building, platform upgradation, improvement of waiting areas, development of circulating area, parking, Public Address System, lifts, escalators and 12 m Foot Over Bridge have been completed. The finishing works of station building, landscaping, art & culture and improvement of illumination on platforms have been taken up. Development / Redevelopment / Upgradation / Modernisation of stations on Indian Railways is a continuous and ongoing process and works in this regard are undertaken as per requirement, subject to inter-se priority and availability of funds. Development / redevelopment / upgradation / modernisation of a station is carried out based on category of station/condition/traffic handled etc. Development / Upgradation of stations is complex in nature involving safety of passengers & trains and requires various statutory clearances such as fire clearance, heritage, tree cutting, airport clearance etc. The progress also gets affected due to brownfield related challenges such as shifting of utilities (involving water/sewage lines, optical fibre cables, gas pipe lines, power/signal cables, etc.), infringements, operation of trains without hindering passenger movement, speed restrictions due to works carried out in close proximity of tracks and high voltage power lines, etc. and these factors affect the completion time. Development / Upgradation / Modernization of stations including Amrit Bharat Station Scheme is generally funded under Plan Head-53 ‘Customer Amenities’. The details of allocation and expenditure under Plan Head-53 are maintained Zonal Railway-wise and not work-wise or station- wise or state-wise. Chhattisgarh is covered under the jurisdiction of two railway zones, namely, South East Central Railway and East Coast Railway. For these zones, an allocation of ₹3,379 crore has been made for the last three years and current year 2025-26, out of which an expenditure of ₹2,602 crore (up to February, 2026) has been incurred so far. ***** §