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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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