Lok Sabha Question No. 4345 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2025-03-26
Subject: Railway Connectivity near Mumbai-Palghar District
Ministry: RAILWAYS
Asked by: Dr. Hemant Vishnu Savara

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA

## MINISTRY OF RAILWAYS

## LOK SABHA

## UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 4345 TO BE ANSWERED ON 26.03.2025

## RAILWAY CONNECTIVITY NEAR MUMBAI-PALGHAR DISTRICT

4345.  DR. HEMANT VISHNU SAVARA:

Will the Minister of RAILWAYS be pleased to state:

- (a) whether Government is planning to enhance railway connectivity in nearby  Mumbai-Palghar  district,  especially  in  the  rural  and  tribal areas, to facilitate easier commuting and economic growth, if so, the details thereof; and
- (b) the details of the status of the proposed railway projects in Palghar district, including the dedicated freight corridor and any  new passenger railway lines?

## ANSWER

MINISTER OF RAILWAYS, INFORMATION & BROADCASTING AND ELECTRONICS & INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

(SHRI ASHWINI VAISHNAW)

(a)  &  (b):  Railway  projects  are  surveyed/  sanctioned/executed  Zonal Railway wise and not State-wise/Union Territory-wise/District-wise as the Railways' projects may span across State/Union Territory/District boundaries. Railway projects are sanctioned on the basis of remunerativeness,  traffic  projections,  last  mile  connectivity,  missing links  and  alternate  routes,  augmentation  of  congested/saturated  lines, demands raised  by  State  Governments,  Central  Ministries,  Members  of

Parliament,  other  public  representatives,  Railway's  own  operational requirement, socio-economic considerations etc. depending upon throw forward of ongoing projects and overall availability of funds.

As  on 01.04.2024, 41 Railway  projects  (16  new  Lines,  02  Gauge Conversions  and  23  Doubling),  of  total  length  of  5,877  Km,  costing ₹81,580  crore    falling  fully/partly  in  the  State  of  Maharashtra,  are  at various stages of planning and implementation, out of which 1,926 Km length has been commissioned and an expenditure of ₹ 31,236 crore has been incurred upto March, 2024.

## The status of work is summarized as under:

| Category               |   No. of projects | Total length (in Km)   | Length Commissioned (in Km)   | Expenditure upto March, 2024 (₹ in Cr.)   |
|------------------------|-------------------|------------------------|-------------------------------|-------------------------------------------|
| New Lines              |                16 | 2,017                  | 166                           | 8,529                                     |
| Gauge Conversion       |                 2 | 609                    | 312                           | 3,332                                     |
| Doubling/Multitracking |                23 | 3,251                  | 1,448                         | 19,376                                    |
| Total                  |                41 | 5,877                  | 1,926                         | 31,236                                    |

Commissioning  of  sections  (New  Line,  Gauge  Conversion  and  Doubling) falling  fully/partly  in  the  State  of  Maharashtra  during  2009-14  and  20142024 is as under:-

| Period   | New track commissioned   | Average commissioning of new track   |
|----------|--------------------------|--------------------------------------|
| 2009-14  | 292 Km                   | 58.4 Km/year                         |
| 2014-24  | 1,830 Km                 | 183 Km/year (more than 3 times)      |

Average  Budget  allocation  for  Infrastructure  projects  and  other  works, falling fully/partly in Maharashtra is as under-

| Period   | Outlay                              |
|----------|-------------------------------------|
| 2009-14  | ₹ 1,171 crore/year                  |
| 2024-25  | ₹ 15,940 crore (more than 13 times) |

Further, to improve the connectivity in Mumbai suburban area including that  of  Palghar,  Mumbai  Urban  Transport  Project  (MUTP)-II  costing ₹8,087  crore,  MUTP-III  costing  ₹10,947  crore  and  MUTP-IIIA  costing ₹33,690  crore  have  been  sanctioned  to  meet  the  future  demands  of passengers.  These  projects include following rail links  in  Mumbai Suburban Area:

|   SN | Name of project                                         |   Cost (₹ in crore) |
|------|---------------------------------------------------------|---------------------|
|    1 | 6th Line Mumbai Central-Borivali (30 km)                |                 919 |
|    2 | Extension of Harbour Line Goregaon-Borivali (7 km)      |                 826 |
|    3 | Virar-Dahanu Road 3rd & 4th Line (64 km)                |                3587 |
|    4 | 5th & 6th Line CSTM-Kurla (17.5 km)                     |                 891 |
|    5 | Panvel-Karjat Suburban Corridor (29.6 km)               |                2782 |
|    6 | Airoli-Kalwa (elevated) Suburban Corridor link (3.3 km) |                 476 |
|    7 | 5th & 6th line Borivali-Virar (26 km)                   |                2184 |
|    8 | 4th line between Kalyan-Asangaon (32 km)                |                1759 |
|    9 | 3rd & 4th line between Kalyan-Badlapur (14.05 km)       |                1510 |
|   10 | Kalyan Yard-Segregation of Main Line & Suburban         |                 866 |

In  addition,  construction  of  Vasai  bye  pass  line  (Double  line)  between Naigaon  and  Juchandra  (5.73  Km)  has  been  sanctioned  at  a  cost  of ₹175.99 Crores.

Western Dedicated Freight Corridor from Jawaharlal Nehru Port Terminal (JNPT)  to  Dadri  (1506  Km)  also  passes  through  Palghar  District.  Work from Vaitarna to Dadri (1404 Km) has been completed and work in 102 km section from Vaitarna to JNPT has been taken up.

Besides  that,  Mumbai-Ahmedabad  High  Speed  Rail  (508  km)  being executed passes through Palghar District and will have two stations i.e. Virar and Boisar in Palghar Distt.

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