Lok Sabha Question No. 4322 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2025-03-26
Subject: Asansol-Bankura Connector Railway Line
Ministry: RAILWAYS
Asked by: Shri Arup Chakraborty

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF RAILWAYS

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 4322 TO BE ANSWERED ON 26.03.2025

## ASANSOL-BANKURA CONNECTOR RAILWAY LINE

## 4322. SHRI ARUP CHAKRABORTY:

Will the Minister of RAILWAYS be pleased to state:

- (a)   whether it is a fact that Eastern Railway has completed Asansol to Mejia Thermal Power Station (MTPS) railtrack of the proposed Asansol-Bankura connector railway line;
- (b)   if  so,  whether  remaining  Mejia-Bankura  portion  is  still  pending inspite of availability of land for Railways; and
- (c)  if so, the reason behind and the target of Railways to accelerate and complete the rest portion of 22 kms thereof?

## ANSWER

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

## (SHRI ASHWINI VAISHNAW)

(a) to (c): 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 throwforward of ongoing projects and overall availability of funds.

There  is  a  private  siding  of  Mejia  Thermal  Power  Station  (MTPS) connecting Raniganj to MTPS for supplying coal to the thermal power plant.  Survey  for  Bankura  -  Raniganj  New  Railway  Line  (48  Km)  was carried out. The project has low traffic projections.

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  Asansol  and Bankura  region,  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 (₹ in Cr.) |
|--------------------------|-------------------|------------------------|------------------------------------------------|------------------------------------------|
| New Lines                |                13 |                   1087 |                                            322 |                                     9774 |
| Gauge Conversion         |                 4 |                   1201 |                                            854 |                                     3663 |
| Doubling/Multi- tracking |                26 |                   2192 |                                            479 |                                     6997 |
| Total                    |                43 |                   4479 |                                           1655 |                                    20434 |

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

| Period   | Outlay                          |
|----------|---------------------------------|
| 2009-14  | ₹4,380 Cr./year                 |
| 2025-26  | ₹13,955 Cr. (More than 3 times) |

To improve rail connectivity in Asansol and Bankura regions, following projects  falling  fully/partly  in  the  State  of  West  Bengal  have  been sanctioned in the current financial year i.e. 2024-25:-

|   SN | Name of the Project                                                  | Cost (₹ in Crore)   |
|------|----------------------------------------------------------------------|---------------------|
|    1 | Chandil - Anara - Damodar 3 rd Line (121.26 Km)                      | 1,932               |
|    2 | Kalipahai - Bakhtarnagar 5 th Line (17.61 Km)                        | 350                 |
|    3 | Rail Flyover at Gaurinath Dham end to Purulia (Chandil end) (5.9 Km) | 429                 |
|    4 | Sini and Kandra (12.53 Km) 3 rd & 4 th lines                         | 287                 |

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%)    |

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) |
|------|--------------------------------------------|-------------------------------|-------------------------|---------------------------------------|
|    1 | Nabadwipghat-Nabadwipdham New Line Project |                        106.71 |                       0 |                                106.71 |
|    2 | Byepass at Sainthia                        |                         22.28 |                       0 |                                 22.28 |
|    3 | Digha-Jaleswar New Line                    |                         55.43 |                       0 |                                 55.43 |

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

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