Parliament Question: Railway Projects in Uttarakhand

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF RAILWAYS LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 2037 TO BE ANSWERED ON 11.02.2026 RAILWAY PROJECTS IN UTTARAKHAND †2037. SHRI ANIL BALUNI: SHRI AJAY BHATT: Will the Minister of RAILWAYS be pleased to state: (a) the details of rail projects currently under process in Uttarakhand including the status of each projects till date; (b) whether any of the project is lagging behind the prescribed timeline; (c) whether the Government proposes to extend the Rishikesh- Karanaprayag railway line and if so, the details thereof; (d) whether any study has been conducted in this regard and if so, the details thereof; and (e) the current status of the said railway line along with the details thereof? ANSWER MINISTER OF RAILWAYS, INFORMATION & BROADCASTING AND ELECTRONICS & INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY (SHRI ASHWINI VAISHNAW) (a) to (e): Budget allocation for Infrastructure projects and safety works, falling fully/ partly in Uttarakhand is as under: Period Outlay 2009-14 Rs 187 Crore/year 2025-26 Rs 4,641 Crore (nearly 25 times) As on 01.04.2025, 03 New Lines, covering total length of 216 Km costing Rs 40,384 crore falling fully/partly in the State of Uttarakhand are sanctioned, out of which 16 Km length has been commissioned and an §expenditure of Rs 19,898 crore has been incurred upto March’ 2025. The summarized details are as under:- Category No. of Total Length Expenditure upto projec Length Commissioned March 2025 ts (in Km) (in Km) (Rs in crore) New 03 216 16 19,898 Lines To provide rail connectivity to Chardham, Rishikesh-Karnaprayag new rail line project (125 km) has been sanctioned. The project alignment passes through Dehradun, Tehri Garhwal, Pauri Garhwal, Rudrapryag and Chamoli Districts of Uttarakhand and will provide rail connectivity to Devprayag and Karnaprayag religious and tourist spots with Rishikesh and National Capital of India. The alignment of the project predominantly passes through tunnels. The project involves construction of 16 Main line tunnels of 104 km length and 12 Escape tunnels of about 98 km length. So far, Main line tunnels of 99 km length and 09 Escape Tunnels of over 94 km length have been completed. To increase progress of works, 08 Adits in various tunnels were also identified. These adits created additional work faces of tunnel excavation expediting early completion of long tunnels. Works of all 8 Adits (5 km) have also been completed. The project also involves construction of 19 Important/Major Bridges. 8 out of 19 Important/Major Bridges have also been completed. Works in balance bridges have also been taken up.Section wise progress of the project is as under: S.N. Name of Status of Tunnels Status of Major Bridges Section 1 Virbhadra- Yog Nagari Already Completed and Commissioned. Rishikesh (4.7 Km) 2 Yog Nagari Tunnel (10.8 km) There is 01 Major Bridge in Rishikesh-  94 % this section, which has been Shivpuri (13.4 excavation completed completed Km)  Lining taken up 3 Shivpuri-Byasi Tunnel (12.7 km) There are 02 Major Bridge in (14.3 Km)  01 out of 02 this section. Both have been tunnels completed. completed  Excavation of 2nd tunnel Completed  lining taken up 4 Byasi- Tunnel (13.3 km) There are 04 Major Bridge in Devprayag (15  03 out of 04 this section. All 4 bridges Km) tunnels have been completed. completed  69% excavation of 4th tunnel Completed  lining taken up 5 Devprayag- Tunnel (14.6 km) Janasu (14.8  Completed - Km) 6 Janasu- Tunnel (2.9 km) There is 01 Major Bridge in Maletha (4.7  Completed this section, which has been Km) completed7 Maletha- Tunnel (4.1 km) Srinagar (5.2  Completed - Km) 8 Srinagar-Dhari Tunnel (9.1 km) There are 03 Major Bridge in Devi (11.2 Km)  Excavation this section. 1 Bridge has been completed completed and work for other  lining taken 2 Bridges have been taken up. up 9 Dhari Devi- Tunnel (16.6 km) There is 01 Major Bridge in Tilani  Excavation this section, which has been (Rudraprayag) completed taken up.  lining taken (17.6 Km) up 10 Tilani Tunnel (6.6 km) There are 02 Major Bridge in (Rudraprayag)-  79% this section. Work for both the Gholtir (7.6 Excavation Bridges have been taken up. completed Km) 11 Gholtir- Tunnel (7.1 km) Gauchar (7.8  Excavation Km) completed -  lining taken up 12 Gauchar- Tunnel (6.3 km) There are 03 Major Bridge in Karnprayag  Excavation this section. Work for all 3 (8.4 Km) completed Bridges have been taken up.  lining taken up To further extend the rail connectivity to Gangotri, Yamunotri, Kedarnath and Badrinath, survey has been completed. However, the project alignment lies near the main Central thrust of Himalayas which is highly seismically active. 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. *****