Lok Sabha Question No. 669 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2025-07-23
Subject: New Railway Line in Uttarakhand
Ministry: RAILWAYS
Asked by: Shri Ajay Bhatt

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA

## MINISTRY OF RAILWAYS

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 669 TO BE ANSWERED ON 23.07.2025

## NEW RAILWAY LINE IN UTTARAKHAND

†669.  SHRI AJAY BHATT:

Will the Minister of RAILWAYS be pleased to state:

- (a) whether the Government has prepared a scheme to expand rail network in the country;
- (b) if so, the details of new railway lines in Uttarakhand;
- (c) whether the Government proposes to connect the 'Char Dham' (four holy shrine) of Uttarakhand with a railway line;
- (d) if so, the details thereof; and
- (e)
- if not, the reasons therefor?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF RAILWAYS, INFORMATION & BROADCASTING AND ELECTRONICS & INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY (SHRI ASHWINI VAISHNAW)

(a) to (e): Railway projects are surveyed/ sanctioned/executed Zonal Railway wise and not State-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  considerations  etc.  depending  upon  throwforward  of ongoing projects and overall availability of funds.

During the last three years i.e. FY 2022-23, 2023-24, 2024-25 and the current FY 2025-26, 892 surveys (267 New Line, 614 Doubling and 11  Gauge  conversion)  of  a  total  length  of  61,462  km  have  been sanctioned throughout the country.

As on 01.04.2025, across Indian Railways, 431 Railway infrastructure projects (154 New Line, 33 Gauge Conversion and 244 Doubling) of total length 35,966 Km, costing approx.  6.75 lakh crore are sanctioned, out of which, 12,769  Km length has been commissioned and an expenditure of approx. 2.91  lakh  crore  has been incurred upto March, 2025. The summary is as under:-

| Category                 |   No of Projects | Total Length NL/GC/DL (km)   | Length Commissioned till Mar'25 (Km)   | Total Exp upto Mar'25 ( in crore)   |
|--------------------------|------------------|------------------------------|----------------------------------------|-------------------------------------|
| New Lines                |              154 | 16,142                       | 3,036                                  | 1,45,318                            |
| Gauge Conversion         |               33 | 4,180                        | 2,997                                  | 22,753                              |
| Doubling / Multitracking |              244 | 15,644                       | 6,736                                  | 1,22,858                            |
| Total                    |              431 | 35,966                       | 12,769                                 | 2,90,929                            |

Zone-wise/year-wise details of all Railway projects are  made available in public domain on Indian Railway's website.

The  details  of  commissioning  /  laying  of  new  track  across  Indian Railways is given below:-

| Period   | New track Commissioned   | Average commissioning of new tracks   |
|----------|--------------------------|---------------------------------------|
| 2009-14  | 7,599 Km                 | 4.2 Km/day                            |
| 2014-25  | 34,428 Km                | 8.57 Km/day ( more than 2 times)      |

New  Lines  projects  falling  fully/partly  in  Uttarakhand  are  covered under  Northern  Railway  (NR)  and  North  Eastern  Railway  (NER) Zones  of  Indian  Railways.  Zonal  Railway wise details  of  Railway projects  are  made  available  in  public  domain  on  Indian  Railway's website.

During  the  last  three  years  i.e.  2022-23,  2023-24,  2024-25  and  the current FY 2025-26, 03 surveys (02 New Line and 01 Doubling) of a total  length  of  146  km  have  been  sanctioned  falling  fully/partly  in the state of Uttarakhand.

As  on  01.04.2025,  03  New  Lines,  covering  total  length  of  216  Km costing 40,384 crore falling fully/partly in the State of Uttarakhand are sanctioned, out of which 16  Km length has been commissioned and an expenditure of 19,898 crore has been incurred upto March' 2025.

-:4:-

## The status of work is summarized as under:-

| Plan Head   |   No. of projects |   Total Length (in Km) |   Length Commissioned (in Km) | Expenditure upto March 2025 ( in crore)   |
|-------------|-------------------|------------------------|-------------------------------|-------------------------------------------|
| New Lines   |                03 |                    216 |                            16 | 19,898                                    |

Budget  allocation  for  Infrastructure  projects  and  safety  works, falling fully/ partly in Uttarakhand is as under:

| Period   | Outlay                        |
|----------|-------------------------------|
| 2009-14  | 187 Crore/year                |
| 2025-26  | 4,641 Crore (nearly 25 times) |

To improve connectivity to Uttarakhand, Deoband-Roorkee new line project (29 km) has been commissioned recently. Further, work has been taken up on Rishikesh-Karnaprayag new rail line project. It is 125 km long project which predominantly involves construction of tunnels. About 97 km tunneling out of 105 km in this project length has already been completed and works are in advance stage. This project will provide rail connectivity to Devprayag and Karnaprayag religious  and  tourist  spots  with  Rishikesh  and  National  Capital  of India.

The Final Location Survey of Chardham Project- connectivity link to Gangotri, Yamunotri, Kedarnath and Badrinath with Indian Railways has  been  completed.  The  project  has  two  alignments  (i)  DoiwalaUttarkashi-Barkot which will serve Yamnotari and Gangotri shrines (ii) KarnaprayagSaikotSoneprayagJoshimath will serve Kedarnath and Badrinath shrines.

After  firming  up  of  Detailed  Project  Report,  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 cannot be fixed.

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