Parliament Question: Railway Lines from Sitapur to Nepal Border

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF RAILWAYS LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 4003 TO BE ANSWERED ON 12.08.2026 RAILWAY LINES FROM SITAPUR TO NEPAL BORDER †4003. SHRI RAKESH RATHOR: Will the Minister of RAILWAYS be pleased to state: (a) whether the Government proposes to lay a new railway line from Sitapur district to Nepal border via Tehsil Laharpur, Tambaur, Sevta and Bahraich district of Uttar Pradesh for which survey has already been conducted; (b) if so, the details thereof including present status, estimated cost and tentative date for commencement of work of the said proposed project; and (c) if not, whether the Government proposes to implement the said project while reviewing commercial, religious and public utility of said railway line in future as the said railways is likely to ease travel to religious places like Pashupati Nath Mandir, birth place of Gautam Buddha Lumbini and birth place of Mata Sita Janakpur but also connect Sitapur district to Hardoi, Lakhimpur Kheri, Shahjahanpur, Barabanki districts and State capital Lucknow through railway network and if so, the details thereof? ANSWER MINISTER OF RAILWAYS, INFORMATION & BROADCASTING AND ELECTRONICS & INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY (SHRI ASHWINI VAISHNAW) (a) to (c): Sitapur and Bahraich are already connected through existing railway network via Burhwal and Gonda. Moreover, to establish/improve rail connectivity to Nepal border/surrounding area, following works/surveys have been taken up: § Page 1 of 7SN Project Status 1 Bahraich-Nepal Ganj Gauge Project has been completed recently. Conversion (56 Km) 2 Bahraich-Khalilabad New The project has been notified as “Special Line (240 Km) Railway Project” for acquisition of land through State Government. Major section- wise progress is as under: Khalilabad-Bansi (54 Km):  246.81 Ha. out of 254.44 Ha. land has been acquired.  37.03L Cum. out of 61.71L Cum. earth work has been completed.  Section involves construction of 26 major bridges and 7 station buildings.  27 out of 56 RUBs have been completed.  4 ROBs have been planned. Bansi-Ikauna (120 Km): 48.02 Ha. out of 568.22 Ha. land has been acquired. Ikauna-Bahraich (66 Km): 274.17 Ha. out of 329.60 Ha. land has been acquired. 3 Sitapur City-Bahraich New Final Location Survey (FLS) has been Line (99 Km) sanctioned for preparation of Detailed Project Report (DPR). 4 Mailani-Bhira Kheri Gauge FLS has been sanctioned for preparation of Conversion (16 Km) DPR. 5 Bhira Kheri-Rai Bhoja New FLS has been sanctioned for preparation of Line (120 Km) DPR. 6 Rai Bhoja-Nanpara Gauge FLS has been sanctioned for preparation of Conversion (13 Km) DPR. 7 Ghaziabad-Shahjahanpur- Project has been sanctioned recently at a Sitapur 3rd and 4th Line cost of ₹14,926 Cr. (403 Km) 8 Burhwal-Sitapur City 3rd Project has been sanctioned recently at a and 4th Line (103 Km) cost of ₹2,276 Cr. After preparation of DPR, sanctioning of project requires consultation with various stakeholders including State Governments and necessary Page 2 of 7approvals 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. Religious places of Pashupatinath Mandir (Kathmandu), Lumbini and Janakpur are located outside India in Nepal. Sitapur, Hardoi, Lakhimpur Kheri, Shahjahanpur, Barabanki and Lucknow are already connected through existing railway network. Uttar Pradesh Railway Budget: Budget allocation for infrastructure projects and safety works, falling fully/partly in the State of Uttar Pradesh is as under: Period Outlay 2009-14 ₹1,109 crore/year 2026-27 ₹20,012 crore (More than 18 times) Track construction: The details of constructing new tracks falling fully/partly in the State of Uttar Pradesh are as under: Period New Track Average Commissioning of new tracks Commissioned 2009-14 996 Km 199 Km per year 2014-26 5,499 Km 458 Km per year (More than 2 times) Projects sanctioned: As on 01.04.2026, 49 projects (09 New Line, 01 Gauge Conversion and 39 Doubling) of 3,691 Km length, costing ₹62,417 crore falling fully/partly in the State of Uttar Pradesh are sanctioned. The summary is as under:- Page 3 of 7Category No of Total Length Exp Projects Length Commissioned upto Mar'26 (Km) (Km) (₹ in Cr.) New Line 09 1,200 365 11,885 Gauge 01 11 0 27 Conversion Doubling/ 39 2,480 985 21,631 Multitracking Total 49 3,691 1,350 33,543 Recently completed projects: Details of some of the recently completed projects falling fully/partly in the State of Uttar Pradesh are as under: SN. Project Cost (₹ in Cr.) 1 Meerut-Muzaffarnagar Doubling (55 Km) 430 2 Ballia-Ghazipur City Doubling (65 Km) 650 3 Ghazipur City-Tarighat New Line (17 Km) 1,766 4 Gonda-Gorakhpur Loop Gauge Conversion (260 Km) 863 5 Gonda-Bahraich Gauge Conversion (60 Km) 318 6 Barabanki-Akbarpur Doubling (161 Km) 1,700 7 Kaptanganj-Chhapra Gauge Conversion (234 Km) 819 8 Pilibhit-Shahjahanpur Gauge Conversion (83 Km) 589 9 Indara-Dohrighat Gauge Conversion (34 Km) 213 10 Lucknow-Pilibhit Gauge Conversion (263 Km) 1,634 11 Bhadoi-Janghai Doubling (31 Km) 168 12 Lahota-Bhadoi Doubling (39 Km) 184 13 Etawah-Mainpuri New Line (58 Km) 313 14 Phaphamau-Prayagraj Doubling (14 Km) 212 15 Muzaffarnagar-Tapri Doubling (52 Km) 525 16 Utretia-Raibareilly Doubling (66 Km) 662 17 Raibareilly-Amethi Doubling (60 Km) 668 18 Alamnagar-Utretia Doubling (20 Km) 358 19 Bhimsen-Jhansi Doubling (206 Km) 2,620 20 Domingarh-Kusumhi 3rd Line and Gorakhpur-Nakaha 508 Jungle Doubling (21 Km) Page 4 of 721 Malhaur-Daliganj Doubling (13 Km) 183 22 Ruma Chakeri-Chandari 3rd Line (13 Km) 177 23 Bareilly-Tanakpur Gauge Conversion (102 Km) 313 24 Rosa-Burhwal Doubling (181 Km) 2,094 25 Jaunpur-Akbarpur Doubling (77 Km) 676 26 Ramna-Singrauli Doubling (160 Km) 2,436 27 Janghai-Phaphamau Doubling (47 Km) 414 28 Varanasi-Prayagraj Doubling (120 Km) 2,018 29 Karaila Road-Shaktinagar Doubling (32 Km) 763 30 Deoband-Roorkee New Line (27 Km) 1,289 31 Agra-Etawah New Line(110 Km) 427 32 Phephna-Indara, Mau-Shahganj Doubling (150 Km) 1,778 33 Janghai-Pratapgarh-Amethi Doubling (87 km) 1,429 34 Burhwal-Gonda 3rd Line (62 Km) 1,308 Ongoing projects: Some of the projects falling fully/partly in the State of Uttar Pradesh which have been taken up are as under: SN. Project Cost (₹ in Cr.) 1 Barabanki-Burhwal 3rd Line (27 Km) 426 2 Burhwal-Gonda Kacheri 4th Line (56 Km) 796 3 Katra-Ayodhya Dham Doubling (10 Km) 466 4 Pt. Deen Dayal Upadhyaya-Prayagraj 3rd Line (150 Km) 2,649 5 Billi-Chunar Doubling (102 Km) 1,424 6 Chhapra-Ballia Doubling (65 Km) 1,046 7 Etah-Kasganj New Line ( 29 Km) 389 8 Gorakhpur-Valmikinagar Doubling (96 Km) 1,121 9 Varanasi-Pt. Deen Dayal Upadhyaya 3rd and 4th Line 2,464 (15 Km) 10 Jhansi-Manikpur & Khairar-Bhimsen Doubling (431 Km) 4,330 11 Sahjanwa-Dohrighat New Line (81 Km) 1,320 12 Prayagraj (Iradatganj)-Manikpur 3rd Line (84 Km) 1,508 13 Bhatni-Aunrihar Doubling (117 Km) 2,529 14 Mathura-Jhansi 3rd Line (274 Km) 5,961 15 Agra Fort-Bandikui Doubling (150 Km) 988 Page 5 of 716 Barabanki-Malhaur 3rd & 4th Line (33 Km) 450 17 Phaphamau-Unchahar Doubling (72 Km) 899 18 Aunrihar-Varanasi City 3rd Line (31 Km) 497 19 Nagda-Mathura 3rd & 4th Line (568 Km) 16,403 In last three years 2023-24, 2024-25, 2025-26 and current financial year 2026-27, 78 surveys (13 New Line, 02 Gauge Conversion and 63 Doubling) covering a total length of 3,860 Km has been sanctioned falling fully/partly in the State of Uttar Pradesh. Railway Infrastructure projects enable socio-economic development of the region including:  Better connectivity of the region with other parts of the country  Faster movement of goods and services  Improving logistics efficiency and reduction in transportation cost.  Enhance line capacity  Increase in direct and indirect employment opportunities for the people of the region  Reduced operational bottlenecks  Development of tourism industry and increase in industrial activities in the region. 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 Page 6 of 7 Railway’s operational requirements  Socio-economic considerations  Overall availability of funds 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. ***** Page 7 of 7