Lok Sabha Question No. 4232 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2026-03-18
Subject: New Railway Line between Lakshmikantapur and Ramganga
Ministry: RAILWAYS
Asked by: Shri Jagannath Sarkar

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## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA

## MINISTRY OF RAILWAYS

## LOK SABHA

## UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 4232 TO BE ANSWERED ON 18.03.2026

## NEW RAILWAY LINE BETWEEN LAKSHMIKANTAPUR AND RAMGANGA

## 4232. SHRI JAGANNATH SARKAR:

Will the Minister of RAILWAYS be pleased to state:

- (a)  whether  the  Government  has  received  fresh  representations  from  the Patharpratima Press Club and several Gram Panchayats of the Sundarbans  demanding  construction  of  a  new  railway  line  between Lakshmikantapur  and  Ramganga  to  improve  connectivity,  healthcare access, disaster response and local economic development and if so, the details thereof;
- (b) whether the Government is aware that a Preliminary Engineering-cumTraffic  (PET)  survey  conducted  during  April  2010  that  proposed  a  59 kilometre route via Mandir Bazar, Patharpratima and Krishnachandrapur but Eastern Railway has confirmed that no sanctioned work presently exists for this stretch and if so, the details thereof;
- (c) whether a fresh feasibility study will be undertaken and if so, the details thereof; and
- (d)  the  details  of  the  steps  being  considered  to  include  this  project  in upcoming railway expansion plans?

## ANSWER

MINISTER OF RAILWAYS, INFORMATION & BROADCASTING AND

## ELECTRONICS & INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

(SHRI ASHWINI VAISHNAW)

- (a) to (d): A feasibility  study  for  Sangrampur-Mandirbazar-RamgangaPatharpratima new line (59 Km) was carried out and a part of this route i.e.Sangrampur-Krishanchandrapur  (25 Km)  new  line was  sanctioned. However, the project is kept in abeyance due to non acquisition of land by the State Government of West Bengal.

West Bengal

Railway Budget:

Budget allocation in the recent years has increased significantly. Budget allotment of projects is made commensurate to the progress achieved in any project. Budget allocation for infrastructure projects and safety works, falling fully/partly in the State of West Bengal is as under:-

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

Projects Sanctioned:

As on 01.04.2025, 42 projects (12 New Lines, 04 Gauge Conversions and 26 Doubling),  of  total  length  of  4402  Km,  costing  ₹67,991  crore  falling fully/partly in the State of West Bengal are sanctioned, out of which, 1702 km  length  has  been  commissioned  and  an  expenditure  of  ₹23,410  crore has been incurred upto March, 2025. The summary is as under:

| Category                  |   No. of projects | Total Length (in Km)   | Length Commissioned till March, 2025 (in Km)   | Total Exp. upto March, 2025 (Rs. in Cr.)   |
|---------------------------|-------------------|------------------------|------------------------------------------------|--------------------------------------------|
| New Lines                 |                12 | 1,032                  | 337                                            | 11,368                                     |
| Gauge Conversio n         |                 4 | 1,201                  | 854                                            | 3,673                                      |
| Doubling/ Multi- tracking |                26 | 2,169                  | 511                                            | 8,370                                      |
| Total                     |                42 | 4,402                  | 1,702                                          | 23,410                                     |

## Recently Completed Projects:

## Details of some of the recently completed projects falling fully/partly in the State of West Bengal are as under:

|   S. No. | Project                                                                | Cost (Rs. in Cr.)   |
|----------|------------------------------------------------------------------------|---------------------|
|        1 | Rampurhat-Mandarhill new line and Rampurhat- Murarai 3rd line (159 Km) | 1,500               |
|        2 | Azimganj-Murshidabad new line (7 Km)                                   | 164                 |
|        3 | Bardhaman-Katwa Gauge Conversion (52 Km)                               | 696                 |
|        4 | Ahmedpur-Katwa Gauge Conversion (52 Km)                                | 440                 |
|        5 | Panskura Kharagpur Doubling (45 Km)                                    | 408                 |
|        6 | Lalgola - Jiaganj Doubling (23 Km)                                     | 124                 |
|        7 | Krishnanagar-Bethuadahari Doubling (28 Km)                             | 152                 |
|        8 | Nabadwipdham-Patuli Doubling (22 Km)                                   | 170                 |
|        9 | Bethuadhahari-Plassey Doubling (23 km)                                 | 132                 |
|       10 | Ambikakalna-Nabadwipdham Doubling (23 km)                              | 145                 |
|       11 | Nalhati-Sagardighi Doubling (26 km)                                    | 193                 |
|       12 | Tamluk Jn.- Basulya Sutahata Doubling (24 km)                          | 245                 |
|       13 | Plassey- Jiaganj Doubling (54 km)                                      | 234                 |
|       14 | Azimganj-Manigram Doubling (21 km)                                     | 150                 |
|       15 | New Coochbehar-Gumanihat Doubling (29 km)                              | 330                 |
|       16 | New Coochbehar-Samuktala Road Doubling (29 km)                         | 445                 |
|       17 | Sainthia-Tarapith 3rd line (22 Km)                                     | 186                 |
|       18 | Ambari Falakata-New Maynaguri Doubling (37 km)                         | 843                 |
|       19 | Bandel-Boinchi - 3rd line (31 km)                                      | 546                 |
|       20 | Boinchi-Shaktigarh 3rd line (26 km)                                    | 424                 |

|   S. No. | Project                                 |   Cost (Rs. in Cr.) |
|----------|-----------------------------------------|---------------------|
|       21 | Bazar Sau-Azimganj Jn. Doubling (42 km) |                 343 |
|       22 | Sagardighi- Malda Town Doubling (25 Km) |                 248 |
|       23 | Kharagpur-Narayangarh 3rd line (24 km)  |                 270 |
|       24 | Monigram-Nimtita Doubling (24 Km)       |                 713 |
|       25 | Purulia-Kotshila Doubling (36 Km)       |                 393 |

## Ongoing Projects:

## Some of the projects falling fully/partly in the State of West Bengal which have been taken up are as under:

|   SN. | Project                                               | Cost (Rs. in Cr.)   |
|-------|-------------------------------------------------------|---------------------|
|     1 | Chandil-Purulia-Anara-Damodar 3rd Line(121 Km)        | 1,932               |
|     2 | Tarakeshwar-Bishnupur New Line (83 Km)                | 1,542               |
|     3 | Sivok-Rangpo New Line (44 Km)                         | 11,973              |
|     4 | Balurghat-Hilli New Line (30 Km)                      | 1,209               |
|     5 | Kaliyaganj-Buniadpur New Line (33 Km)                 | 1,147               |
|     6 | Katihar-Kumedpur and Katihar-Mukuria Doubling (65 Km) | 943                 |
|     7 | Kharagpur-Adityapur 3rd line (132 Km)                 | 3,250               |
|     8 | Narayangarh-Bhadrak 3rd line (153 Km)                 | 2,136               |
|     9 | Kalipahari-Bakhtarnagar 5th Line (18Km)               | 350                 |
|    10 | Dankuni-Baltikuri 3rd & 4th line (18 Km)              | 429                 |
|    11 | Murarai-Barharwa 3rd Line (49 Km)                     | 935                 |
|    12 | Ranaghat-Krishnanagar City 3rd Line (26 Km)           | 446                 |
|    13 | Aluabari Road-New Jalpaiguri 3rd & 4th Line (57 Km)   | 1,630               |

|   14 | Sainthia-Pakur 4th Line (81 Km)          | 1,569   |
|------|------------------------------------------|---------|
|   15 | Santragachi- Kharagpur 4th Line (111 Km) | 2,905   |

## Land Acquisition Status:

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

| Total Land required         | 4,662 Ha       |
|-----------------------------|----------------|
| Land Acquired               | 1,273 Ha (27%) |
| Balance Land to be acquired | 3,389 Ha (73%) |

Projects Delayed Due to 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 | Chandil-Anara- Burnpur - 3rd line   |                             8 |                       0 |                                     8 |                            0    |
|    2 | Nabadwipghat- Nabadwipdham new line |                           107 |                       0 |                                   107 |                           50    |
|    3 | Byepass at Sainthia                 |                            22 |                       0 |                                    22 |                            0    |
|    4 | Naihati - Ranaghat 3rd line         |                            13 |                       0 |                                    13 |                            1.3  |
|    5 | Sivok-Rangpo new line               |                           135 |                     128 |                                     7 |                            7.98 |
|    6 | Kaliyaganj-Buniadpur                |                           168 |                       0 |                                   168 |                            0    |

|    | new line                                          |    |    |    |    |
|----|---------------------------------------------------|----|----|----|----|
|  7 | Canning- Bagankhali new line                      | 18 |  0 | 18 |  0 |
|  8 | Adra- Sanka- Rukni doubling                       |  5 |  0 |  5 |  0 |
|  9 | Kalipahari- Bakhtarnagar 5th line                 | 15 |  0 | 15 |  0 |
| 10 | Rail Flyover at Anara from Rukni to Anara station | 35 |  0 | 35 |  0 |
| 11 | Rail Flyover at Gourinathdham end to Purulia      | 34 |  0 | 34 |  0 |
| 12 | Chandanpur Shaktigarh 4th Line                    |  5 |  0 |  5 |  0 |

Further, Tarakeshwar-Bishnupur (83 Km) New Line Project is held up since 2016 due to non-cooperation by state Govt. of West Bengal. The work was stopped by local villagers in about 900 m length near 'Bhabadighi' pond in Hooghly district. Honourable High Court, Kolkata in March, 2025 directed State  Govt  of  WB  to  provide  all  necessary  support  and  deploy  adequate police  force  to  enable  the  Railways  to  commence  the  work  within  3 months.

Deshpran -Nandigram (18.5 km) Line was sanctioned in 2009-10 at cost of ₹121.44  crores.  The  entire  Project  length  is  located  in  East  Midnapore District. The project could not progress due to problems in land acquisition and  was  kept  in  abeyance.  In  April  2023  it  was  decided  to  re-start  the work. However, Survey for Land Acquisition from Deshpran to 5.0 Km could not  be  completed  due  to  law  and  order  issues.  As  Deshpran  is  the connecting station, acquisition of this land is essential for commissioning of this project.

Zonal Railway wise details of Railway projects are made available in public domain on Indian Railway's website.

Several  meetings  have  been  held  with  officials  of  Government  of  West Bengal for land acquisition for the above projects.

## Kolkata Metro :

Metro  project  in  Kolkata  started  in  1972.  The  details  of  the  Metro commissioned since then are as under:

| Period                  | Metro Commissioned   |
|-------------------------|----------------------|
| 1972 to 2014 (42 years) | 28 km                |
| 2014 to 2025 (11 years) | 45 km                |

## The details of Metro Corridors commissioned are as under:

|   S.No. | Metro Corridor                                            | Section Commissioned                                                                   |
|---------|-----------------------------------------------------------|----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
|       1 | Kavi Subash - Noapara (28 Km) (Blue Line)                 | This Corridor commissioned before year 2014 (This required about 42 years to complete) |
|       2 | Noapara - Dakshineswar (4.14 Km) (Extension of Blue Line) | This Corridor commissioned in 2020- 21                                                 |
|       3 | Noapara - Jaihind Airport - Barasat (18 Km) (Yellow Line) | Noapara - Jaihind Airport section (6.77 Km) Commissioned in 2025-26                    |
|       4 | Joka - Majerhat - Esplanade (14 KM) (Purple Line)         | Joka - Majerhat section (7.74 Km) Commissioned in stages from 2022 to 2024             |

|   5 | New Garia - Belaghata - Dumdum Airport (32 Km) (Orange Line)   | New Garia - Belaghata (9.8 Km) Commissioned in stages between 2023-26   |
|-----|----------------------------------------------------------------|-------------------------------------------------------------------------|
|   6 | Howrah Maidan - Salt Lake Sec. V (16.55 Km) (Green Line)       | This Corridor commissioned in stages from 2019 to 2025                  |

Further, work pertaining to 4 Metro corridors at total length of about 52 km is  under  progress,  out  of  which  20  km  of  work  is  held  up  due  to  land acquisition  and  utility  shifting  issues  pertaining  to  State  Government.  In the  rest  of  the  Metro  stretch,  though  the  work  is  in  progress  yet  facing difficulties  due  to  one  or  other  reasons  at  the  end  of  State  Government. Details are as below:

- (i) Noapara  -  Jaihind  Airport  -  Barasat  (18  km):  Noapara  -  Jai  Hind Airport (6.77 km) has been commissioned and work from Jai Hind Airport to Michael  Nagar  is  in  progress.  However,  work  from  New  Barrackpore  to Barasat  (7.5  km)  is  held  up  due  to  land  acquisition  and  encroachment issues by State authorities.
- (ii) Joka -Majerhat - Esplanade (14 km):- Joka - Majerhat (7.74 km) has been  commissioned  and  balance  work  from  Majerhat  to  Esplanade  (6.26 km) has been taken up. However, progress of the work is affected due to the following issues:
- (iii) New  Garia  -Belaghata  -  Dum  Dum  Airport  (32  km):  New  Garia  Belaghata  (9.8  km)  has  been  commissioned  and  balance  work  from Belaghata  to  Dum  Dum  Airport  (22.2  km)  has  been  taken  up.  However, progress of the work is affected due to the following issues:
- (iv) Baranagar  -  Barrackpore  -  Dakshineshwar  (14.5  km):  Baranagar  Dakshineshwar  (2  km)  has  been  commissioned  and  balance  work  from Baranagar  to  Barrackpore  (12.5  km)  is  held  up  due  to  pending  utility shifting in the alignment by state government authorities. The details are as below:

|   SN | Location                   | Issues                                                                                                                                                                                              |
|------|----------------------------|-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
|    1 | New Barrackpore to Barasat |  Land acquisition (23,000 sq. m) and removal of heavy encroachments (1277 hutments, 764 shops) are involved in this section.  The matter is not yet resolved by Government of West Bengal (GoWB). |

|   SN | Location                 | Issues                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   |
|------|--------------------------|------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
|    1 | Khidderpur Metro Station |  For utility shifting and road traffic diversion, 837 sqm permanent and 1,702 sqm temporary land of State Government (Kolkata Armed Police) is required. The proposal of this land was sent to State Government on 24.08.2020.  Several meetings were held with officials of Government of West Bengal (GoWB) for transfer of above land.  After lot of persuasion, State Government finally accorded approval in July 2025 only after almost 5 years.                                                                                |
|    2 | Dr. B.C. Roy Market      |  For construction of Esplanade Metro Station, temporary shifting of unauthorised 528 Shops at B.C. Roy Market on Defence land is required.  The proposal for NOC of temporary/permanent shifting of these shops was submitted to State Government in February 2022. Shops for temporary shifting of these unauthorized shops have also been constructed by Railway.  The State Government has been requested to facilitate shifting. Regular follow up with State PWD is also being done.  Issue is pending for more than 3.5 years. |

|   SN | Location                                                                | Issues                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           |
|------|-------------------------------------------------------------------------|--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
|    1 | Chingrighata Crossing (Between Beleghata - Gour Kishore Ghosh stations) |  Temporary traffic diversion at Chingrighata crossing for launching of viaduct segments is required for 3 nights each on either side of the road (8 hours on every night).  The proposal was submitted to Government of West Bengal (GoWB) in December 2024.  The diversion road as desired by Kolkata traffic police has already been constructed in February 2025.  Since then, several meetings have been held with various State Government and Kolkata police officials for NOC.  The NOC is still awaited even after about 12 months. |

|   SN | Location                 | Issues                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              |
|------|--------------------------|-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
|    1 | Baranagar to Barrackpore |  The original alignment along the B.T road was agreed in 2011 as per MoU among Metro Railway, RVNL and Kolkata Municipal Corporation.  As per MoU, existing pipeline was to be replaced by new 64-inch diameter pipeline by the State Government. |

|  Shifting of this pipeline was completed in 2012.  However, NOC is still awaited from Government of West Bengal.   |
|----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

Sanction  of  any  railway  project  depend  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 own operational requirements
-  Socio-economic considerations
-  Overall availability of funds

Completion of Railway project/s depends on various factors which include the following:

-  Land acquisition by State Government
-  Forest clearance
-  Shifting of infringing utilities b
-  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.

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