Parliament Question: Progress report on the Merta City–Pushkar railway line

O.I.H GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF RAILWAYS RAJYA SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 3924 ANSWERED ON 27.03.2026 PROGRESS REPORT ON THE MERTA CITY–PUSHKAR RAILWAY LINE 3924# SHRI RAJENDRA GEHLOT: Will the Minister of RAILWAYS be pleased to state: (a) the details of the progress made after the budget approval of the Merta City–Pushkar railway line, which is important from tourism and religious perspectives; (b) whether there are any obstacles in commencing the work on the said project due to which the project is getting delayed, if so, the details thereof; and (c) by when the said project is likely to be started and the details of the time line fixed for its completion? ANSWER MINISTER OF RAILWAYS, INFORMATION & BROADCASTING AND ELECTRONICS & INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY (SHRI ASHWINI VAISHNAW) (a) to (c): Railway has taken up construction of Merta - Pushkar railway line project (51 Km) at a cost of ₹800 crore. The project has been declared as ‘Special Railway Project’ for land acquisition. Competent Authority for Land Acquisition (CALA) has been nominated. Award for land acquisition has been published. Works have been taken up. Rajasthan Railway Budget: Budget allocation in the recent years has increased significantly. Budget allocation for infrastructure projects and safety works, falling fully/partly in the State of Rajasthan is as under:- Period Outlay 2009-14 ₹682 crore/year 2025-26 ₹9,960 crore (Nearly 15 times) Page 1 of 5 §Track Construction: The details of constructing new track falling fully/partly in the State of Rajasthan during 2009-14 and 2014-25 is as under:- Period New Track Commissioned Average commissioning of new tracks 2009-14 798 Km 159.60 Km/year 2014-25 3,815 Km 346.82 Km/year (More than 2 times) Project Sanctioned: As on 01.04.2025, 28 projects (13 New Lines, 05 Gauge Conversion and 10 Doubling), covering a total length of 3,409 Km, costing ₹43,918 crore, falling fully/partly in Rajasthan are sanctioned. The summary is as under:- Category No. of Total Length Length Commissioned Expenditure projects (in Km) (in Km) (₹ in Cr) New Lines 13 981 196 5769 Gauge Conversion 5 1252 788 6829 Doubling/ 10 1176 254 6357 Multitracking Total 28 3,409 1,238 18,954 Zone-wise/year-wise details of all Railway projects are made available in public domain on Indian Railway’s website. Recently completed projects: Details of some of the recently completed projects falling fully/partly in the State of Rajasthan are as under: S.No. Name of Project Latest Cost (₹ in crore) 1 Bangurgram-Ras New Line (28 km) 175 2 ThaiyatHamira-Sonu New Line (58 Km) 350 3 Suratpura- Sriganganagar Gauge Conversion (241 Km) 896 4 Sadulpur-Bikaner &Ratangarh-Degana Gauge Conversion (438 Km) 886 5 Jaipur -Churu & Sikar-Loharu Gauge Conversion (320 Km) 1105 6 Bhagat ki Kothi-Luni Doubling (28 Km) 128 7 Rani-Keshav Ganj Doubling (59 Km) 290 Page 2 of 5 §S.No. Name of Project Latest Cost (₹ in crore) 8 Guriya-Marwar &Karjoda-Palanpur Doubling (49 Km) 251 9 Rani-Marwar Doubling (52 Km) 346 10 Abu Road-Swaroop Ganj Doubling (26 Km) 195 11 Abu Road-Sarotra Road Doubling (24 Km) 152 12 Alwar-Bandikui Doubling (60 Km) 450 13 Ajmer-Bangurgram Doubling (48 Km) 375 14 Bangurgram-Guriya Patch Doubling (47 Km) 395 15 Degana-Rai ka Bagh Doubling (146 Km) 809 16 Bina-Kota Doubling (283 Km) 2476 17 Nimach-Chittaurgarh Doubling (56 Km) 560 18 Dausa-Gangapur City Doubling (93 Km) 950 19 Phulera-Degana Doubling (108 Km) 702 20 Churu-Ratangarh Doubling (43 Km) 423 Ongoing projects: Some of the projects falling fully/partly in the State of Rajasthan which have been taken up are as under: S.No. Name of Project Cost (₹ in crore) 1 Nimach-Badi Sadri New Line (48 Km) 495 2 Taranga Hill-Abu Road New Line (116 Km) 2798 3 Ramganjmandi-Bhopal New Line (277 Km) 5073 4 Ringus-Khatu Shyam Ji New Line (17 Km) 254 5 Merta city-Ras New Line & Bye Pass at Merta Road Station 947 (56 Km) 6 Gwalior-Sheopurkalan Gauge Conversion with extension to Kota 2913 (284 Km) 7 Dholpur-Sirmuttra Gauge Conversion with extension to Gangapur 747 City (145 Km) 8 Mavli-DevgarhMadariya Gauge Conversion (83 Km) 969 9 Mathura-Jhansi 3rd Line (274 Km) 5924 Page 3 of 5 §S.No. Name of Project Cost (₹ in crore) 10 Agra Fort-Bandikui Doubling (150 Km) 988 11 Sawaimadhopur-Jaipur Doubling (131 Km) 1204 12 Churu-Sadulpur& Luni-Bhildi Doubling (330 Km) 3554 13 Ajmer-Chanderiya Doubling (178 Km) 1635 14 Bye Pass line at Sawaimadhopur (14 Km) 304 15 Rewari-Khatuwas Doubling (28 Km) 352 16 Khatuwas-Narnaul Doubling (24 Km) 313 17 Bye Pass line at Marwar (4 Km) 71 18 Bypass line at Churu (5 Km) 63 19 Bypass line at Samdari (1 Km) 26 20 Ramdevra-Pokhran new line (13 Km) 189 21 Lalgarh-Bikaner East Cabin doubling (11 Km) 279 22 Ringas-Sikar Doubling (50 Km) 470 23 Umra-Debari Doubling (25 Km) 492 In last three years, 2022-23, 2023-24, 2024-25 and current financial year 2025-26, 59 surveys (25 new line & 34 doubling) of total length 5,666 Km falling fully/partly in the State of Rajasthan have been sanctioned. Sanction of any railway project depends 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,  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 Page 4 of 5 § 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. Railway Infrastructure projects enable socio-economic development of the region including:  Better integration of the region with other parts of the country  Faster movement of goods and services  Improving logistics efficiency  Enhance line capacity  Increase in direct and indirect employment opportunities for the people of the region  Reduces operational bottlenecks  Development of tourism industry and increase in industrial activities in the region. ***** Page 5 of 5 §