Parliament Question: Status of railway projects in Odisha

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF RAILWAYS RAJYA SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 3309 ANSWERED ON 20.03.2026 STATUS OF RAILWAY PROJECTS IN ODISHA 3309 DR. SASMIT PATRA: Will the Minister of RAILWAYS be pleased to state: (a) the total number of railway projects in Odisha during the last five years, including new lines, doubling, tripling, gauge conversion, electrification and station redevelopment, project-wise details thereof; (b) the number of projects sanctioned, completed and pending during this period; (c) the present status, original and revised cost, expenditure incurred and balance funds required for each project; (d) the expected date of completion and commissioning of pending projects, with reasons for delay; and (e) the steps taken to expedite execution and to ensure timely completion? ANSWER MINISTER OF RAILWAYS, INFORMATION & BROADCASTING AND ELECTRONICS & INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY (SHRI ASHWINI VAISHNAW) (a) to (e): Railway Budget: Budget allocation in the recent years has increased significantly. Budget allocation for infrastructure projects and safety works, falling fully/partly in the State of Odisha is as under: Period Outlay 2009-14 ₹ 838 Cr./year 2025-26 ₹ 10,599 Cr. (Nearly 13 times) Track Construction: The details of commissioning/laying of new track falling fully/partly in the State of Odisha during 2009-14 and 2014-25 is as under: Period New Track Commissioned Average Commissioning of new tracks per year 2009-14 267 Km 53 Km 2014-25 2,150 Km 195 Km (More than 3.5 times) ….2/- §-2- Project Sanctioned: As on 01.04.2025, 49 projects (19 New Lines and 30 Doubling), of a total length of 4,010 Km, costing ₹ 67,496 crore, falling fully/partly in Odisha, are sanctioned, out of which 1,429 Km length has been commissioned and an expenditure of ₹28,043 crore has been incurred upto March’ 2025. The summary is as under:- Length No of Total Length Total Exp upto Commissioned till Category sanctioned NL/GC/DL Mar'25 Mar'25 Projects (in Km) (₹ in Cr) (in Km) New Lines 19 1,544 256 6,270 Doubling/Multi- 30 2,466 1,173 21,773 tracking Total 49 4,010 1,429 28,043 Recently Completed Projects: Details of some of the recently completed projects falling fully/partly in Odisha are as under: S. No. Name of Project Cost (In Crores of ₹) Daitari-Banspani New Line and Jakhapura-Haridaspur 3rd Line 1 1,317 (179 Km) 2 MCL siding from Jharsuguda - Sardega New Line (53 Km) 1,598 3 Haridaspur-Paradeep New Line (82 Km) 2,397 4 Angul-Sukinda New Line (104 Km) 2,834 5 Champa-Jharsuguda 3rd Line (152 Km) 1,227 6 Sambalpur-Titlagarh Doubling (182 Km) 2,262 7 Rourkela-Jharsuguda 3rd Line (101 Km) 1,313 8 Banspani-Daitari-Tomka-Jakhapura Doubling (164 Km) 1,827 9 Sambalpur-Talcher Doubling (174 Km) 1,539 10 Raipur - Titlagarh Doubling (203 Km) 1,171 11 Jharsuguda-Sardega Doubling (50 Km) 3,200 Ongoing Projects: Further, some of the main projects falling fully/partly in Odisha which have been taken up are as under: S.No. Name of Project Total Cost (In Crores of ₹) 1 Junagarh-Nabarangpur New Line (116 Km) 2,865 2 Nabarangpur-Jeypore New Line (41 Km) 748 3 Jeypore-Malkangiri New Line (130 Km) 2,344 4 Malkangiri – Pandurangapuram New Line (174 Km) 3,592 ….3/- §-3- S.No. Name of Project Total Cost (In Crores of ₹) 5 Buramara-Chakulia New Line (60 Km) 1,459 6 Gunupur-Therubali New Line (74 Km) 1,166 7 Puri - Konark New Line (32 Km) 492 8 Badampahar-Kendujhargarh New Line (82 Km) 1,876 9 Bangriposi-Gorumahisani New Line (86 Km) 2,269 10 Bargarh Road-Nawapara Road New Line (138 Km) 2,622 11 Vizianagram-Titlagarh 3rd Line (265 Km) 6,996 12 Jarapada- Budhapank 3rd & 4th Line with flyover at Talcher (101 810 Km) 13 Budhapank- Salegaon via Rajatgarh 3rd & 4th Line (170 Km) 2,023 14 Nergundi - Vizianagaram 3rd Line (385 Km) 4,963 15 Kottavalasa-Koraput Doubling (189 Km) 2,500 16 Koraput-Singapur Road Doubling (165 Km) 2,362 17 Jagdalpur-Koraput Doubling (107 Km) 1,547 18 Jharsuguda-Bilaspur 4th line (206 Km) 2,596 19 Bondamunda-Ranchi Doubling (159 Km) 3,029 20 Narayangarh-Bhadrak 3rd line (153 Km) 2,136 21 Bhadrak-Nergundi 3rd Line (92 Km) 1,284 The progress of some of the major projects is as under: 1. Khurda Road-Bolangir (301 Km) new line: The latest cost of the project is ₹5,089 crore. Expenditure of ₹4,311 crore has been incurred on this project upto March, 2025. An outlay of ₹1938 crore has also been provided in the financial year 2025-26.Status of project is as under:-  Khurda Road – Daspalla (106 Km) : Commissioned  Daspalla – Purunakatak (75 Km) : Works have been taken up.  Purunakatak – Bolangir (120 Km) : Commissioned Status of Daspalla – Purunakatak (75 Km) is as under:- SN Activity Scope Status 1 Tunnel 7 nos (11.96 Km) 6 nos completed (7.7 Km).Works taken up in balance 1 tunnel 2 Important Bridge 5 All completed 3 Station Building 5 Works have been taken up ….4/- §-4- 2. Construction of 3rd and 4th line between Salegaon- Budhapank(85 Rkm): The work has been taken up. Status is as below:-  Salegaon – Rajathgarh (23 Km): Commissioned  Rajathgarh – Dhenkanal (20 Km): Land acquisition & forest land diversion completed. 4 major bridges completed. Balance work has been taken up.  Dhenkanal – Meramundali (34 Km): Commissioned  Meramundali – Budhapank (8 Km): Land acquisition & forest land diversion completed. 2major bridges and 2 stations completed. Balance work has been taken up. RAILWAY ELECTRIFICATION: Electrification of railway network on Indian Railways has been taken up in mission mode. So far, about 99.4% of Broad Gauge (BG) network has been electrified. The electrification in remaining network has been taken up. Electrification carried out during 2014-25 and before 2014 is as under: Period Route Km Before 2014 (about 60 years) 21,801 2014-25 46,900 In Odisha, entire existing BG network has been electrified. Further, all new line/ multi-tracking projects are being sanctioned and constructed with electrification. A mrit Bharat Stations: Ministry of Railways has launched Amrit Bharat Station Scheme for redevelopment of stations with a long-term approach. The scheme involves preparation of master plans and their implementation in phases to improve the stations. The master planning includes:  Improvement of access to station and circulating areas  Integration of station with both sides of city  Improvement of station building  Improvement of waiting halls, toilets, sitting arrangement, water booths  Provision of wider foot over bridge/air concourse commensurate with passenger traffic  Provision of lift/escalators/ramp  Improvement /Provision of platform surface and cover over platforms  Provision of kiosks for local products through schemes like ‘One Station One Product’  Parking areas, Multimodal integration  Amenities for Divyangjans  Better passenger information systems  Provision of executive lounges, nominated spaces for business meetings, landscaping, etc. keeping in view the necessity at each station. ….5/- §-5- The scheme also envisages sustainable and environment friendly solutions, provision of ballastless tracks etc. as per necessity, phasing and feasibility and creation of city centre at the station in the long term. So far, 1,338 stations have been identified for development under the Amrit Bharat Station Scheme. Out of which, 59 stations are located in Odisha. The name of stations identified under Amrit Bharat Station Scheme in Odisha are as following: State No. of Name of Stations Stations Odisha 59 Angul, Badampahar, Balangir, Balasore, Balugaon, Barbil, Bargarh Road, Baripada, Barpali, Belpahar, Betnoti, Bhadrak, Bhawanipatna, Bhubaneswar, Bimlagarh, Brahmapur, Brajrajnagar, Chatrapur, Cuttack, Damanjodi, Dhenkanal, Gunupur, Harishanker Road, Himgir, Hirakud, Jajpur-Keonjhar Road, Jaleswar, Jaroli, Jeypore, Jharsuguda, Jharsuguda Road, Kantabanji, Kendujhargarh, Kesinga, Khariar Road, Khurda Road, Koraput, Lingaraj Temple Road, Mancheswar, Meramandali, Muniguda, New Bhubaneswar, Panposh, Paradeep, Parlakhemundi, Puri, Raghunathpur, Rairakhol, Rairangpur, Rajgangpur, Rayagada, Rourkela, Sakhi Gopal, Sambalpur, Sambalpur City, Soro, Talcher, Talcher Road, Titlagarh Jn. Completed stations: Development works at railway stations under Amrit Bharat Station Scheme in Odisha have been taken up at a good pace. Details of stations completed in Odisha are as under: State No. of Name of Stations Stations Odisha 6 Baripada, Barpali, Bimlagarh, Cuttack, Parlakhemundi, Talcher The activities for development at other stations have also been taken up at good pace and progress of some of the stations is as given below:  Bhubaneshwar station: The structural work of new station building at East and West side and air concourse have been completed. The structural work of elevated driveway at East and West side station, extension of Foot Over Bridge and platform shelter have been taken up. The finishing works of new station building at East and West side, works of MEP (Mechanical, Electrical and Plumbing), HVAC (Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning) and escalators have been taken up. ….6/- §-6-  Puri station: The structural work of station building has been completed. The works of finishing of station building, platform upgradation and boundary wall have been taken up.  Badampahar station: The works of platform extension and surfacing have been completed. The works of new station building, toilet block, circulating area, parking, drinking water booth and entry/exit have been taken up.  Jaroli station: The works of new waiting hall cum booking counter, toilets, approach road, circulating area and parking have been taken up.  Panposh Station: The works of new station building, approach road, circulating area and entry/exit gate have been taken up.  Rajgangpur station: The work of new station building and platform surfacing have been taken up. Further, development / redevelopment / upgradation / modernisation of stations on Indian Railways is a continuous and ongoing process and works in this regard are undertaken as per requirement, subject to inter-se priority and availability of funds. Development / redevelopment / upgradation / modernisation of a station is carried out based on category of station/condition/traffic handled etc. Development / Upgradation / Modernization of stations including Amrit Bharat Station Scheme is generally funded under Plan Head-53 ‘Customer Amenities’. The details of allocation and expenditure under Plan Head-53 are maintained Zonal Railway-wise and not work-wise or station-wise or state- wise. Odisha is covered under the jurisdiction of three railway zones, namely, South Eastern Railway, South East Central Railway, and East Coast Railway. For these zones, an allocation of ₹ 1,584 crore has been made for the financial year 2025-26, out of which an expenditure of ₹ 1,428 crore (up to February, 2026) has been incurred so far. Development / Upgradation of railway stations is complex in nature involving safety of passengers & trains and requires various statutory clearances such as fire clearance, heritage, tree cutting, airport clearance etc. The progress also gets affected due to brownfield related challenges such as shifting of utilities (involving water/sewage lines, optical fibre cables, gas pipe lines, power/signal cables, etc.), infringements, operation of trains without hindering passenger movement, speed restrictions due to works carried out in close proximity of tracks and high voltage power lines, etc. and these factors affect the completion time. ….7/- §-7- Indian Railways has a well established mechanism to monitor implementation of projects including their reviews, inspection, check for quality of works and audits. Works are carried out adhering to the standards and specifications laid down in various codes and manuals. Inspections/audits/checks are carried out from time to time by various agencies/officials/multi-disciplinary teams as per laid down instructions and actions for correction are taken immediately. This is a continuous and ongoing process. 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 operational requirements  Socio-economic considerations  Overall availability of funds Various steps taken by the Government for effective and speedy implementation of rail projects include:  Substantial increase in allocation of funds.  Delegation of powers at field level.  Close monitoring of progress of project at various levels.  Regular follow up with State Governments and concerned authorities for expeditious land acquisition, forestry and Wildlife clearances and for resolving other issues pertaining to projects. 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. ***** §