Parliament Question: Pune-Nashik Semi-High Speed Railway Project

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF RAILWAYS LOK SABHA STARRED QUESTION NO. 45 TO BE ANSWERED ON 03.12.2025 PUNE – NASHIK SEMI – HIGH SPEED RAILWAY PROJECT *45. DR. AMOL RAMSING KOLHE: Will the Minister of RAILWAYS be pleased to state: (a) the details of the current status/progress of the Pune-Nashik semi- high-speed railway project including land acquisition process/challenges being faced; (b) the details of total budgetary allocation for this project during the last three Union Budgets and the actual expenditure incurred till date; (c) the revised timeline for completion of the project along with the steps being taken to fast-track the work; and (d) the manner in which the Government ensures that this project will not only benefit industries but also provide an affordable/reliable mode of transport for the general public and farmers of the Shirur Lok Sabha Constituency? ANSWER MINISTER OF RAILWAYS, INFORMATION & BROADCASTING AND ELECTRONICS & INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY (SHRI ASHWINI VAISHNAW) (a) to (d): A Statement is laid on the Table of the House. *****STATEMENT REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO PARTS (a) TO (d) OF LOK SABHA STARRED QUESTION NO. 45 TO BE ANSWERED ON 03.12.2025. (a) to (d): To improve connectivity between Pune and Nashik, following surveys/works have been taken up:- S.No. Name of the Work Length in Status km. 1 Nashik – Sainagar Shirdi New 95 DPR prepared Double Line 2 Sainagar Shirdi - Puntamba- 16 Project recently Doubling sanctioned 3 Puntamba –Nimblak Doubling 80 Recently Commissioned 4 Nimblak – Ahilyanagar Doubling 6 Work in progress 5 Ahilyanagar- Pune New Double 133 DPR prepared Line The proposed Ahilyanagar- Pune New Double Line (133 Km) for which DPR has proposed is passing through Shirur constituency area. After preparation of 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 dynamic process, exact timelines depend upon appraisals and approvals by various stakeholders. To provide connectivity between Pune and Nashik via Sangamner (near Akole), another DPR was prepared by Maharashtra Rail InfrastructureDevelopment Corporation Ltd. (MRIDC), a Joint Venture company of Government of Maharashtra (50%) and Ministry of Railways (50%). The proposed alignment in the DPR was passing through Narayangaon where National Centre for Radio Astrophysics (NCRA), Pune has installed Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope (GMRT) Observatory. GMRT has users from 31 number of countries (till 28th Cycle) that uses its services for scientific observations. Department of Atomic Energy has advised Ministry of Railways that the alignment is passing near the GMRT Observatory and will have potential interference and harmful impact on its operations. As such, this alignment was not found acceptable due to adverse impact on the GMRT Observatory. Maharashtra Budget allocation in the recent 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) The details of commissioning/laying of 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 Commissioned tracks 2009-14 292 Km 58.4 Km/year 2014-25 2,292 Km 208.36 Km/year (more than 3 times)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, out of which 2,360 km length has been commissioned and an expenditure of ₹39,407 crore has been incurred upto March’ 2025. The summary is as under:- Category No of sanctioned Total Length Exp. Projects Length Commissioned upto (in Km) Upto Mar'25 Mar'25 (Km) (₹ in Cr.) New Line 11 1,355 234 10,504 Gauge Conversion 02 609 334 4,286 Doubling/Multitracki 25 3,134 1,792 24,617 ng Total 38 5,098 2,360 39,407 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 Manmad- Jalgaon 3rd line (160 Km.) 2,574 3 Jabalpur-Gondia Gauge Conversion (300 Km) 2,005 4 Chhindwara-Nagpur Gauge Conversion (150 Km) 1,512 5 Panvel-Pen Doubling (35 Km) 263 6 Pen-Roha Doubling (40 Km) 330 7 Udhna-Jalgaon Doubling (307 Km) 2,448 8 Mudkhed-Parbhani Doubling (81 Km) 673S.No. Project Cost (₹ in crore) 9 Bhusawal-Jalgaon 3rd Line (24 Km) 325 10 Jalgaon-Bhusawal 4th line (24 Km) 261 11 Daund-Gulbarga Doubling (225 Km) 3,182 Some of the main projects falling fully/partly in the Maharashtra which have been taken up are as under: S.N Name of the project Cost (₹ In o. crore) 1 Ahilyanagar-Beed-Parli Vaijnath New Line (261 Km.) 4,957 2 Baramati-Lonand New Line (64 Km.) 1,844 3 Wardha-Nanded New Line (284 Km.) 3,445 4 Manmad-Indore 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 In the last three years 2022-23, 2023-24, 2024-25 and the current financial year 2025-26, 98 surveys (29 New Line, 2 Gauge Conversion and 67 Doubling)of total length 8603 Km. falling fully/ partly in the State of Maharashtra have been sanctioned under PM Gati Shakti NMP. 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 Further, Construction works on the flagship High speed bullet train project have gathered momentum in Maharashtra. Now 100% land acquisition has been completed. Works of bridges, aqueducts etc. have been taken up. 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. 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. *****