Parliament Question: Railway line between Belagavi and Dharwad

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF RAILWAYS RAJYA SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 923 ANSWERED ON 06.02.2026 RAILWAY LINE BETWEEN BELAGAVI AND DHARWAD 923 SHRI IRANNA KADADI:

Will the Minister of RAILWAYS be pleased to state:

(a) the current physical and financial progress of the new railway line project between Belagavi and Dharwad via Kittur as of January 2026;

(b) the status of the land acquisition process in the Belagavi and Dharwad districts;

(c) the details of the funds allocated and utilized for the project;

(d) the measures taken to expedite the construction of bridges and tunnels on the route; and

(e) the expected timeline for the completion of the project to reduce travel time? ANSWER MINISTER OF RAILWAYS, INFORMATION & BROADCASTING AND ELECTRONICS & INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY (SHRI ASHWINI VAISHNAW)

(a) to (e): Dharwad – Belgaum (Belagavi) via Kittur new line project (73 km) has been sanctioned on 50:50 cost sharing basis and land to be provided free of cost by Government of Karnataka (GoK). The project is held up on account of delay in land acquisition by State Government of Karnataka.

Karnataka Budget allocation in the recent years has increased significantly. Budget allocation for infrastructure projects and safety works, falling fully/partly in the State of Karnataka is as under:

Period Outlay 2009-14 ₹835 crore/year 2025-26 ₹7,564 crore (more than 9 times) ...2/--2- As on 01.04.2025, 25 projects (15 new lines, 10 doubling) of 3,264 km length, costing ₹ 42,517 crore falling fully/partly in Karnataka are sanctioned. The summary is as under:- Category No of sanctioned Total Length Exp Projects Length Commissioned upto Mar'25 (in km) Upto Mar'25 (km) (₹ in cr.) New Line 15 2,034 421 8,794 Doubling/ Multitracking 10 1,230 973 12,516 Total 25 3,264 1,394 21,310 Details of some of the recently completed projects falling fully/partly in Karnataka are as under :

S. No Project Cost (₹in Crores) 1 Kottur-Harihar new line (65 km) 468 2 Hassan-Bangalore new line (167 km) 1,290 3 Bidar-Gulbarga new line (110 km) 1,543 4 Shivani-Hosadurga Road doubling (10 km) 50 5 Shivani-Birur Doubling (29 km) 143 6 Hosadurga-Chikjajur doubling (29 km) 260 7 Ramanagram-Mysore patch doubling (94 km) 998 8 Yelahanka – Chennasadra doubling (13 km) 108 9 Yeshwantpur-Yelahanka doubling (12 km) 95 10 Netrawati-Mangalore Central doubling (2 km) 28 11 Kankanadi-Panambur doubling (19 km) 350 12 Arsikere-Tumkur doubling (96 km) 758 13 Yelahanka-Penukonda doubling (123 km) 1,104 14 Daund-Gulbarga doubling (225 km) 3,182 15 Hubli-Chikjajur doubling (190 km) 1,850 Some of the projects falling fully/partly in Karnataka which have been taken up are as under:

Cost S Project (₹ in No.

Crores) 1 Hospet-Hubli-Londa-Vasco-de-Gama doubling (312 km) 4,153 2 Hotgi-Gadag doubling (284 km) 2,459 3 Ginigera - Raichur new line (165 km) 3,401 4 Gadag - Wadi new line (257 km) 2,842 ...3/--3- 5 Bagalkot – Kudachi new line (142 km) 1,649 6 Tumkur – Rayadurga new line (207 km) 2,496 7 Tumkur – Davangere new line (182 km) 2,142 8 Kadur – Chikmagalur – Belur new line (68 km) 825 9 Baiyyapanahalli – Hosur doubling (48 km) 336 10 Yeshwanthpur – Channasandra doubling (22 km) 314 In last three years 2022-23, 2023-24, 2024-25 and current financial year 2025-26, 65 surveys (25 new line and 40 doubling) covering a total length of 7,240 km has been sanctioned falling fully/partly in the State of Karnataka.

Details of some major projects which are delayed due to land acquisition are as under:- Total Land Balance S Land acquired Land to be Project No. required (in ha) acquired (in (in ha) ha) 1 Shimoga – Rannebennur new line (96 km) 559 226 333 2 Belgaum – Dharwad new line (73 km) 581 0 581 3 Shimoga – Harihar new line (79 km) 488 0 488 4 Whitefield-Kolar new line (53 km) 337 0 337 5 Hassan-Belur new line (32 km) 206 0 206

Summary of the status of land acquisition in Karnataka is as under:- Total Land required for Projects in Karnataka 9,064 ha Land Acquired 5,707 ha (63%) Balance Land to be acquired 3,357 ha (37%) Government of India is geared up to execute projects, however success depends upon the support of Government of Karnataka.

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 ...4/--4-  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  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. *****