Parliament Question: Revised alignment of Nashik–Pune railway project

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF RAILWAYS RAJYA SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 1723 ANSWERED ON 13.02.2026 REVISED ALIGNMENT OF NASHIK–PUNE RAILWAY PROJECT 1723 SHRI SANJAY RAUT:

Will the Minister of RAILWAYS be pleased to state:

(a) the comparative details of distance, estimated cost, land acquisition, travel time, and economic impact of the originally proposed Nashik–Pune railway alignment via Sangamner and the revised alignment approved by Indian Railways;

(b) whether land acquisition or compensation processes had already commenced along the Sangamner alignment, if so, the present status thereof;

(c) whether any socio-economic impact assessment was carried out before altering the alignment, particularly for farmers, students, workers, and small businesses in the affected talukas; and

(d) the steps taken so far by Government to address public opposition and ensure transparency in decision-making for the project? ANSWER MINISTER OF RAILWAYS, INFORMATION & BROADCASTING AND ELECTRONICS & INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY (SHRI ASHWINI VAISHNAW)

(a) to (d): To improve connectivity between Pune and Nashik, following surveys/works have been taken up:- SN Name of the work Length Status in Km.

1 Nashik - Sainagar Shirdi New Double Line 95 DPR prepared 2 Sainagar Shirdi - Puntamba Doubling 16 Project recently sanctioned 3 Puntamba - Nimblak Doubling 80 Recently commissioned 4 Nimblak - Ahilyanagar Doubling 6 Work taken up 5 Ahilyanagar - Pune New Double Line 133 DPR prepared 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.

Contd….2/- §-:2:- To provide connectivity between Pune and Nashik via Sangamner (near Akole), another DPR was prepared by Maharashtra Rail Infrastructure Development 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 during the last five 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 Commissioned Average commissioning of new tracks 2009-14 292 Km 58.4 Km/year 2014-25 2,292 Km 208.4 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. The summary is

as under:- Contd.....3/- §-:3:- Category No. of Total Length Exp. sanctioned Length Commissioned upto Mar'25 Projects (in Km) Upto Mar'25 (Km) (₹ in Cr.) New Line 11 1,355 234 10,504 Gauge Conversion 02 609 334 4,286 Doubling/ 25 3,134 1,792 24,617 Multitracking 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 Jabalpur-Gondia Gauge Conversion (300 Km) 2,005 3 Chhindwara-Nagpur Gauge Conversion (150 Km) 1,512 4 Panvel-Pen Doubling (35 Km) 263 5 Pen-Roha Doubling (40 Km) 330 6 Udhna-Jalgaon Doubling (307 Km) 2,448 7 Mudkhed-Parbhani Doubling (81 Km) 673 8 Bhusawal-Jalgaon 3rd Line (24 Km) 325 9 Jalgaon-Bhusawal 4th Line (24 Km) 261 10 Daund-Gulbarga Doubling (225 Km) 3,182 To further improve the Railway Infrastructure in the state of Maharashtra, following works have been

taken up:- S.No. Name of the project Cost (₹ In crore) 1 Ahilyanagar (Ahmednagar)-Beed-Parli Vaijnath New Line (261 4,957 Km) Contd....4/- §-:4:- 2 Baramati-Lonand New Line (64 Km) 1,844 3 Wardha-Nanded New Line (284 Km) 3,445 4 Indore-Manmad 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 16 Solapur-Tuljapur-Osmanabad New Line (95 Km) 2,933 17 Panvel-Chowk Double Line (17 Km) 491 18 Wardha-Balharshah 4th Line (135 Km) 2,226 19 Itarsi-Nagpur 4th Line (297 Km) 5,010 20 Wardha-Bhusawal 3rd & 4th Line (314 Km) 9,197 21 Asangaon-Kasara 4th Line (35 Km) 794 22 Badlapur-Karjat 3rd & 4th Line (32 Km) 1,324 23 Gondia-Dongargarh 4th Line (84 Km) 2,223 24 Gondia-Balharshah Doubling (240 Km) 4,819 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.

Contd....5/- §-:5:- Further, during the last three years i.e. 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 8,615 Km falling fully/ partly in the State of Maharashtra, 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  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.

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