Parliament Question: Progress of railway line doubling projects

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF RAILWAYS RAJYA SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 2519 ANSWERED ON 13.03.2026 PROGRESS OF RAILWAY LINE DOUBLING PROJECTS 2519 SHRI A. D. SINGH: Will the Minister of RAILWAYS be pleased to state: (a) the current status of railway line doubling projects across the country, State-wise; (b) length of railway lines in kilometers doubled in the last five years and the targets for the next three years; (c) region-wise or State-wise progress and highlight the major projects currently underway; (d) steps that are being taken to expedite completion, address land acquisition challenges and improve capacity on congested routes; and (e) manner in which doubling of lines contribute to enhancing freight and passenger efficiency in the Indian Railways network? ANSWER MINISTER OF RAILWAYS, INFORMATION & BROADCASTING AND ELECTRONICS & INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY (SHRI ASHWINI VAISHNAW) (a) to (e): 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:- Length Total Length Total Exp upto No of Commissioned till Category NL/GC/DL Mar'25 Projects Mar'25 (km) ( in Cr) (Km) 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 ..P/2 §-:2:- Zone-wise/year-wise details of all Railway projects are made available in public domain on Indian Railway’s website. Track Construction: The details of commissioning/laying of new track across Indian Railways is given below:- New track Average commissioning of new tracks Period Commissioned 2009-14 7,599 Km 4.2 Km/day 2014-25 34,428 Km 8.6 Km/day (more than 2 times) Major projects undertaken: Bullet Train project: The Mumbai-Ahmedabad High Speed Rail (MAHSR) Project (508 km) is the only HSR Project 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 (1,389.5 Ha.) for MAHSR project has been acquired. All Statutory Clearances have been obtained. All 1,651 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: ..P/3 §-:3:- Gujarat (352 KM): Item Progress Foundation 352 kms. Piers 352 kms. Girder Casting 342 kms. Girder Launching 331 kms. Track Bed Construction 152 kms. OHE Masts Erection 121 kms. Maharashtra (156 KM): Item Progress Foundation 84 kms. Piers 75 kms. Girder Casting 12 kms. Girder Launching 5 kms. Out of total 12 stations, foundation works has been completed at 8 stations (Vapi, Bilimora, Surat, Bharuch, Anand, Vadodara, Ahmedabad, and Sabarmati). In Maharashtra section, foundation work is in progress at 3 stations (Thane, Virar, Boisar) and excavation work at BKC station is near completion and Casting of base slab started. 17 river bridges have been completed. Work is in advance stage for 4 major river bridges (Narmada, Mahi, Tapti and Sabarmati) in Gujarat & in progress in 4 river bridges in Maharashtra. Work on Depots (Thane, Surat and Sabarmati) is in full swing. Civil works at Bandra Kurla Complex (BKC) are progressing satisfactorily. Excavation works have achieved about 91% progress, and concreting works are at various stages, with 100% completion of the basement slab at Level-4. 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. ..P/4 §-:4:- To ensure seamless passenger connectivity, the Government has planned multi-modal integration of Bullet Train stations with the existing Mumbai suburban railway network and upcoming metro lines. The integration includes passenger connectivity with Metro Line-2B and Metro Line-3 through convenient pedestrian access at BKC station. Bullet train project is a very complex and technology intensive Project. Exact timelines for the completion of the project can be reasonably ascertained after the completion of all associated works of Civil Structures, Track, Electrical, Signaling& Telecommunication and supply of Train sets. Dedicated freight corridor: Ministry of Railways has taken up construction of two Dedicated Freight Corridors (DFC) viz. Eastern Dedicated Freight Corridor (EDFC) from Ludhiana to Sonnagar (1337 Km) and the Western Dedicated Freight Corridor (WDFC) from Jawaharlal Nehru Port Terminal (JNPT) to Dadri (1506 Km). Out of total 2843 Km, 2741 Route Kilometers (96.4%) has been commissioned and operational. The work in balance section has been taken up. Dedicated Freight Corridor (DFC) Project has positive impact on transportation and logistics sector as it enabled enhanced movement of Double Stack Container (DSC) trains, higher axle load trains, faster access of northern hinterland by Western Ports and development of new terminals/linkages with industries along the DFC. The Eastern DFC mostly caters to mineral traffic from Eastern India. These developments enabled reduction in logistic cost. DFC has contributed to creating additional paths on the conventional network by diverting freight traffic to EDFC and WDFC. DFCCIL achieved a significant operational milestone by running on an average 443 trains per day in the Jan’ 26. Other Major Multi-tracking projects: ..P/5 §-:5:- Some of the major multi-tracking projects taken up for augmentation of Railway Network are as under: Cost SN Name of project ( in crore) 1 Gondia-Ballarshah (Chanda Fort) Doubling (240 Km) 4,373 Narkatiaganj- Raxaul- Sitamarhi- Darbhanga & Sitamarhi- Muzaffarpur 2 4,080 sections Doubling (256 km) 3 Sambalpur-Jarapada 3rd & 4th line (127 Km) 3,574 4 Bhusawal-Khandwa 3rd & 4th line (131 Km) 3,285 5 Ballari-Chikjajur Doubling (185 Km) 3,079 6 Koderma-Barkakana (Arigada) Doubling (133 Km) 2,887 7 Jalgaon-Manmad 4th line (160 km) 2,574 8 Wardha-Balharshah Quadrupling(135 Km) 2,226 9 Chandil-Anara-Damodar section 3rd line(121 Km) 1,932 10 Prayagraj (Iradatganj)- Manikpur 3rd line (84 Km) 1,508 11 Tirupati -Pakala- Katpadi Doubling (104 Km) 1,216 12 Jharsuguda-Sason 3rd & 4th line (35 Km) 1,113 13 Ratlam-Nagda 3rd and 4th line project (41 Km) 964 14 Phaphamau-Unchahahar Doubling (72 Km) 899 15 Gudur-Renigunta 3rd line (83 Km) 877 16 Burhwal - Gonda Kacheri 4th line (56 km) 796 17 Aluabari Road-New Jalpaiguri 3rd & 4th Line (57 km) 1,630 18 Itarsi-Nagpur 4th Line(297 km) 5,010 19 Dangoaposi-Jaroli (Banspani) 3rd & 4th Line (43 km) 1,638 20 Aurangabad (Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar)- Parbhani (177 Km) 2,006 21 Bhagalpur-Jamalpur 3rd Line(53 km) 1,156 22 Secunderabad (Sanathnagar)- Wadi 3rd and 4th line (173 Km) 5,012 23 Furkating-New Tinsukia doubling (194 Km) 3,634 ..P/6 §-:6:- Cost SN Name of project ( in crore) 24 Bhagalpur-Dumka-Rampurhat doubling (177 Km) 3,169 25 Wardha-Bhusawal 3rd & 4th line (314 Km) 9,197 26 Itarsi-Bina 4th line (237 Km) 4,329 27 Vadodara-Ratlam 3rd & 4th line (259 Km) 8,885 28 Ringas-Sikar Doubling (50 Km) 470 29 Mughalsarai-Allahabad 3rd line (150 Km) 2,649 30 Trivandrum-Kanyakumari doubling (87 Km) 3,785 31 Bhadrak-Nergundi 3rd line (92 Km) 1,284 32 Vizianagram-Titlagarh 3rd line (265 Km) 6,996 33 Churu-Sadulpur and Luni-Samdari-Bhildi doubling (33 Km) 3,554 34 Itarsi-Nagpur 3rd line (280 Km) 2,450 In order to boost investment from industry in development of additional terminals for handling rail cargos, 'Gati Shakti Multi-Modal Cargo Terminal (GCT)' policy has been launched. The Gati Shakti Cargo Terminals (GCTs) are being developed by private players, and can be developed on non-Railway land or fully / partially on Railway land. The location of GCTs is being decided on the basis of demand from industry and potential of Cargo traffic. So far, 128 GCTs have been commissioned and in- principle approvals (IPAs) for 288 more locations have been given. 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. ..P/7 §-:7:- All these factors affect the completion time and cost of the project/s. 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. ***** §