Lok Sabha Question No. 3005 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2025-03-19
Subject: Electrification and Doubling of Railway Line  in North Bengal
Ministry: RAILWAYS
Asked by: Shri Raju Bista

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA

## MINISTRY OF RAILWAYS

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 3005

TO BE ANSWERED ON 19.03.2025

## ELECTRIFICATION AND DOUBLING OF RAILWAY LINE IN NORTH BENGAL

## 3005. SHRI RAJU BISTA:

Will the Minister of RAILWAYS be pleased to state:

- (a) the current status of railway electrification and doubling of railway lines  in  North  Bengal,  district-wise,  including  Darjeeling,  Kalimpong, Alipurduar, Jalpaiguri, and Cooch Behar;
- (b) the details of railway sections in these districts where electrification and doubling projects have been completed during the last five years; and
- (c) the details of ongoing electrification and doubling projects in these districts, along with their expected completion timelines?

## ANSWER

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

## (SHRI ASHWINI VAISHNAW)

- (a)  to  (c)  Railway  projects  are  surveyed/sanctioned/executed  Zonal Railway  wise  and  not  State-wise/Constituency  wise  as  the  Railway projects  may  span  across  State  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, socioeconomic and ecofriendly considerations etc. depending upon throwforward of ongoing projects and overall availability of funds.

In  the  state  of  West  Bengal,  98.6%  of  Broad  gauge  lines  have  been electrified  and  achievements  during  2009-14  and  2014-2024  are  as under:

| Period                | Route Kilometer   |
|-----------------------|-------------------|
| 2009-14               | 160               |
| 2014-25 (upto Feb-25) | 1,647             |

The electrification  works  for  Railway  lines  situated  in  North  Bengal, Darjeeling,  Kalimpong,  Alipurduar,  Jalpaiguri  and  Cooch  Behar  have been completed except New Cooch Behar-Bamanhat section of Cooch Behar district, which has been taken up.

New Jalpaiguri to New Cooch behar via falakata passing through the districts  of  Darjeeling,  Kalimpong,  Alipurduar,  Jalpaiguri,  and  Cooch Behar is already double line.

As on 01.04.2024, 43 projects (13 New Lines, 04 Gauge Conversions and  26  Doubling),  of  total  length  of  4479  Km,  costing  ₹60,168  crore falling  fully/partly  in  the  State  of  West  Bengal  including  those  which are in planning/approval/construction stage, out of which, 1655 km

length  has  been  commissioned  and  an  expenditure  of  ₹20,434  crore has been incurred upto March, 2024. The summary is as under:-

| Category                 |   No. of projects | Total Length (in Km)   | Length Commissioned till March, 2024 (in Km)   | Total Exp. upto March, 2024 (Rs. in Cr.)   |
|--------------------------|-------------------|------------------------|------------------------------------------------|--------------------------------------------|
| New Lines                |                13 | 1,087                  | 322                                            | 9,774                                      |
| Gauge Conversion         |                 4 | 1,201                  | 854                                            | 3,663                                      |
| Doubling/Multi- tracking |                26 | 2,192                  | 479                                            | 6,997                                      |
| Total                    |                43 | 4,479                  | 1,655                                          | 20,434                                     |

The  details  of  outlay  for  infrastructure  projects  falling  fully/partly  in the State of West Bengal is as under:-

| Period   | Outlay                             |
|----------|------------------------------------|
| 2009-14  | Rs. 4,380 Cr./year                 |
| 2024-25  | Rs. 13,941 Cr. (More than 3 times) |

In  last  three  years  (i.e.  2021-2022,  2022-2023,  2023-24  and  current Financial Year i.e. 2024-25), total 102 Nos. of Surveys (15 New Line 02 Gauge Conversion and 85 Doubling) falling fully/partly in the State of West Bengal having a total length of 4,713 Km have been sanctioned and survey work has been taken up.

Execution of important infrastructure projects falling fully/partly in the State of West Bengal is held up due to delay in land acquisition. Status of land acquisition in West Bengal is as under:

| Total Land required         | 4093 Ha         |
|-----------------------------|-----------------|
| Land Acquired               | 1086 Ha (26.5%) |
| Balance Land to be acquired | 3007 (73.5%)    |

Support of the Government of West Bengal is needed to expedite the land acquisition.

Details  of  some  major  projects  which  are  delayed  due  to  land acquisition are as under:-

|   SN | Name of the project                         |   Total land required (in Ha) |   Land acquired (in Ha) |   Balance Land to be acquired (in Ha) |   Amount Paid to State (in Cr.) |
|------|---------------------------------------------|-------------------------------|-------------------------|---------------------------------------|---------------------------------|
|    1 | Nabadwipghat- Nabadwipdham New Line Project |                        106.71 |                       0 |                                106.71 |                              50 |
|    2 | Byepass at Sainthia                         |                         22.28 |                       0 |                                 22.28 |                               0 |
|    3 | Digha-Jaleswar New Line                     |                         55.43 |                       0 |                                 55.43 |                               0 |

Government  of  India  is  geared  up  to  execute  projects,  however success depends upon the support of Government of West Bengal.

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