Lok Sabha Question No. 544 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2025-12-03
Subject: Ongoing Railways Projects in West Bengal
Ministry: RAILWAYS
Asked by: Shri Khalilur Rahaman

(a) to (c) : West Bengal:

Budget allocation in the recent years has increased significantly. 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) |

Contd…2/-

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA

## MINISTRY OF RAILWAYS

LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO.544

## TO BE ANSWERED ON 03.12.2025

## ONGOING RAILWAYS PROJECTS IN WEST BENGAL

544. SHRI KHALILUR RAHAMAN :

Will the Minister of RAILWAYS be pleased to state:

- (a) the details and status of ongoing railway projects in West Bengal;
- (b)  the details of the amount allocated and spent by the Government on the said projects so far; and
- (c)  the number of projects running behind schedule and details of the financial implications due to the delay?

## ANSWER

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

(SHRI ASHWINI VAISHNAW)

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, 1,702 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 Conversion          |                 4 | 1,201                  | 854                                            | 3,673                                      |
| Doubling/ Multi- tracking |                26 | 2,169                  | 511                                            | 8,370                                      |
| Total                     |                42 | 4,402                  | 1,702                                          | 23,410                                     |

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         | 4,564 Ha       |
|-----------------------------|----------------|
| Land Acquired               | 1,250 Ha (27%) |
| Balance Land to be acquired | 3,314 Ha (73%) |

Contd…3/-

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 | Naihati - Ranaghat 3rd line                 |                         13.33 |                       0 |                                 13.33 |                              1.3 |

Further, Tarakeswar - Bishnupur (83 Km) New Line project is held up due to law and order issues in Goghat-Kamarpukur section falling in Hooghly district. The work was stopped by local villagers in about 900m length near Bhabadighi Pond. The work is held up since 2016.

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 restart 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.

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
- 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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