Parliament Question: Phaltan–Pandharpur New Railway Line Project

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF RAILWAYS LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 6109 TO BE ANSWERED ON 01.04.2026 PHALTAN–PANDHARPUR NEW RAILWAY LINE PROJECT

6109. SHRI MOHITE PATIL DHAIRYASHEEL RAJSINH:

Will the Minister of RAILWAYS be pleased to state:

(a) whether it is a fact that the Phaltan–Pandharpur section (approximately 105 km) of the Lonand–Pandharpur New Railway Line Project in Maharashtra remains incomplete despite the submission of an updated Detailed Project Report (DPR) to the Railway Board and if so, the details thereof;

(b) whether it is a fact that despite final approval of the project is still pending comments were received from NITI Aayog on the project review and if so, the steps taken by the Government in this regard;

(c) the reasons for the delay in granting approval and commencing construction of the said section; and

(d) the details of the concrete steps being taken by the Government to expedite approval, start construction work and ensure time-bound completion of the Phaltan–Pandharpur section? ANSWER MINISTER OF RAILWAYS, INFORMATION & BROADCASTING AND ELECTRONICS & INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY (SHRI ASHWINI VAISHNAW)

(a) to (d): Survey for Phaltan – Pandharpur New Line Project (109 Km) has been completed and Detailed Project Report (DPR) has been prepared.

After preparation of Detailed Project Report (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 § Page 1 of 11dynamic 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:

Period 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:

Period New track Average commissioning of new tracks Commissioned 2009-14 292 Km 58.4 Km/year 2014-25 2,292 Km 208.4 Km/year (More than 3 times)

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 Maharashtra are sanctioned. The summary is as under:- Page 2 of 11Category No. of Total Length Exp.

sanctioned Length Commissioned upto Mar'25 Projects (in Km) Upto Mar'25 (₹ in Cr.)

(Km) New Line 11 1,355 234 10,504 Gauge Conversion 02 609 334 4,286 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

Maharashtra are as under:

S.No. Project Cost (₹ in crore) 1 Pune-Miraj-Londa Doubling (467 Km) 4,670 2 Jabalpur-Gondia Gauge Conversion (300 Km) 2,005 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 Page 3 of 11Ongoing 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 Page 4 of 1122 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

Increasing 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.

Page 5 of 11New 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.) 1 CSMT-Kurla 5th & 6th Line (MUTP-II) (17.5 km) 891 2 Mumbai Central-Borivali 6th Line (MUTP-II) (30 km) 919 Extension 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.

Page 6 of 11Bullet Train project:

Presently, the Mumbai-Ahmedabad High Speed Rail (MAHSR) Project (508 km) is under execution. The Project is passing 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.

The progress of stations is given below:- S.No. Station Status Foundation works completed, Platform slab & roof 1 Sabarmati structural works and finishing works are in progress 2 Ahmedabad Structural works completed and finishing works 3 Anand/Nadiad have been taken up.

4 Vadodara Foundation work completed, structural works and Page 7 of 11finishing works have been taken up.

5 Bharuch 6 Surat Structural works completed and finishing works 7 Bilimora have been taken up.

8 Vapi 9 Boisar Foundation works have been taken up and in 10 Virar advanced stage. Structural works have been taken 11 Thane up.

This is an underground station. Foundation works BKC 12 almost completed and Base Slab has been taken

(Mumbai) up.

The progress on the River Bridges is as under:- S.

River Name Status No.

Sub-Structure work completed, 1 Sabarmati River (480m) Superstructure work has been taken 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 6 Vishwamitri River (80m) Bridge construction completed.

7 Dhadhar River (120m) 21 out of 25 wells completed; 4 spans 8 Narmada River (1366m) launched 9 Kim River (120m) Bridge construction completed.

Page 8 of 11Foundation work has been taken up, 10 10 Tapi River (720m) out of 12 wells completed 11 Mindhola River (240m) 12 Purna River (360m) 13 Ambika River (200m) 14 Venganiya River (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) 22 Jagani River (360m) Foundation works have been completed 12 Pile Cap and 11 Pier (out of 58) 23 VaitarnaRiver (2320m) completed.

Ulhas River Branch Temporary Access Bridge (TAB) 24

(120m) completed to start the foundation work.

Geo-technical Investigation (GTI) has Desai Khadi River Bridge 25 been completed and Design work has

(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.

Further, to strengthen national transport infrastructure, provide a fillip to regional connectivity, economic growth, tourism, investment and Page 9 of 11employment generation, and encourage modal shift from road and air transport to rail, the Government has announced the development of the following seven new High-Speed Rail (HSR) corridors in the Union Budget 2026-27:-

(i) Mumbai–Pune

(ii) Pune–Hyderabad

(iii) Hyderabad–Bengaluru

(iv) Hyderabad–Chennai

(v) Chennai–Bengaluru

(vi) Delhi–Varanasi

(vii) Varanasi–Siliguri Being highly capital intensive, the decision to sanction any HSR Corridor/Project depends on many factors such as outcome of DPR, techno- economic feasibility studies and availability of resources such as financing options etc.

Dedicated freight corridor:

Western DFC also passes through Maharashtra. About 178 route Km of western DFC is situated in Maharashtra which is about 12% of overall route length of western DFC. 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.

Sanction of any railway project depends upon many parameters/factors

which include the following:

Page 10 of 11 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 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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