Lok Sabha Question No. 4362 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2026-03-18
Subject: New Railway Line from Purulia to Jhargram
Ministry: RAILWAYS
Asked by: Shri Jyotirmay Singh Mahato

§

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF RAILWAYS LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 4362

## TO BE ANSWERED ON 18.03.2026

## NEW RAILWAY LINE FROM PURULIA TO JHARGRAM

## †4362. SHRI JYOTIRMAY SINGH MAHATO:

Will the Minister of RAILWAYS be pleased to state:

- (a) whether the funds  were  allocated  for  survey  of  the  Purulia-ManbazarJhargram new railway line few months ago and its utilisation has begun and  if  so,  the  details  thereof  including  status  of  the  said  survey  and progress so far;
- (b) whether the said railway line is likely to directly benefit connectivity, education, health services, employment, trade and tourism in tribal and backward areas and if so, the details thereof;
- (c) whether  the  Government  proposes  to  complete  the  processes  of environmental clearance  and  financial  approval  for  the  said  project  in  a  time  bound
- Detailed Project Report (DPR), land acquisition, manner after the completion of said survey; and
- (d)   if so, the details of the time likely to be taken in the said procedures?

## ANSWER

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

(SHRI ASHWINI VAISHNAW)

(a) to (d): Purulia and Jhargram are already connected on Railway Network via  Gamharia  Jn.  To  explore  additional  connectivity,  a  survey  for  new Railway Line from Purulia to Jhargram (125 Km) has been sanctioned for preparation  of  Detailed  Project  Report  (DPR).  The  field  survey  work  has been completed.

After preparation of DPR, 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.

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

## Project Sanctioned:

As on 01.04.2025, 42 projects (12 New Lines, 04 Gauge Conversions and 26 Doubling),  of  total  length  of  4,402  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 (₹ in Cr.)   |
|--------------------------|-------------------|------------------------|------------------------------------------------|------------------------------------------|
| New Lines                |                12 | 1,032                  | 337                                            | 11,368                                   |
| Gauge Conversion         |                04 | 1,201                  | 854                                            | 3,673                                    |
| Doubling/Mul ti-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. | Name of Project                                                         | Cost (₹ in Cr.)   |
|----------|-------------------------------------------------------------------------|-------------------|
|        1 | Rampurhat-Mandarhill new line and Rampurhat- Murarai 3 rd 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 3 rd line (22 Km)                                     | 186               |
|       18 | Ambari Falakata-New Maynaguri Doubling (37 Km)                          | 843               |
|       19 | Bandel-Boinchi - 3 rd line (31 Km)                                      | 546               |
|       20 | Boinchi-Shaktigarh 3 rd line (26 Km)                                    | 424               |

|   S. No. | Name of Project                         |   Cost (₹ in Cr.) |
|----------|-----------------------------------------|-------------------|
|       21 | Bazar Sau-Azimganj Jn. Doubling (42 Km) |               343 |
|       22 | Sagardighi- Malda Town Doubling (25 Km) |               248 |
|       23 | Kharagpur-Narayangarh 3 rd 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:

|   S. No. | Name of Project                                       | Cost (₹ in Cr.)   |
|----------|-------------------------------------------------------|-------------------|
|        1 | Chandil-Purulia-Anara-Damodar 3 rd 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 3 rd line (132 Km)                | 3,250             |
|        8 | Narayangarh-Bhadrak 3 rd line (153 Km)                | 2,136             |
|        9 | Kalipahari-Bakhtarnagar 5 th Line (18 Km)             | 350               |
|       10 | Dankuni-Baltikuri 3 rd & 4 th line (18 Km)            | 429               |
|       11 | Murarai-Barharwa 3 rd Line (49 Km)                    | 935               |
|       12 | Ranaghat-Krishnanagar City 3 rd Line (26 Km)          | 446               |
|       13 | Aluabari Road-New Jalpaiguri 3 rd & 4 th Line (57 Km) | 1,630             |
|       14 | Sainthia - Pakur 4 th Line (81 Km)                    | 1,569             |
|       15 | Santragachi - Kharagpur 4 th line (111 Km)            | 2,905             |

## Land Acquisition:

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%) |

## 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 | Chandil-Anara-Burnpur 3 rd line                   |                             8 |                       0 |                                     8 |
|    2 | Nabadwipghat- Nabadwipdham new line               |                           107 |                       0 |                                   107 |
|    3 | Byepass at Sainthia                               |                            22 |                       0 |                                    22 |
|    4 | Naihati - Ranaghat 3 rd line                      |                            13 |                       0 |                                    13 |
|    5 | Sivok-Rangpo new line                             |                           135 |                     128 |                                     7 |
|    6 | Kaliyaganj-Buniadpur new line                     |                           168 |                       0 |                                   168 |
|    7 | Canning-Bagankhali new line                       |                            18 |                       0 |                                    18 |
|    8 | Adra-Sanka-Rukni doubling                         |                             5 |                       0 |                                     5 |
|    9 | Kalipahari-Bakhtarnagar 5 th line                 |                            15 |                       0 |                                    15 |
|   10 | Rail Flyover at Anara from Rukni to Anara station |                            35 |                       0 |                                    35 |
|   11 | Rail Flyover at Gourinathdham end to Purulia      |                            34 |                       0 |                                    34 |
|   12 | Chandanpur Shaktigarh 4 th Line                   |                             5 |                       0 |                                     5 |

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.

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

During  last  three  years  i.e.  2022-2023,  2023-24,  2024-25  and  current Financial  Year  i.e.  2025-26,  total  106  Nos.  of  Surveys  (15  New  Line,  91 Doubling)  falling  fully/partly  in  the  State  of  West  Bengal  having  a  total length of 5,215 Km have been sanctioned.

## 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:

|   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.   |
|------|-----------------------|--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

- (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:

|   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.   |
|----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

- (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 | 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. |

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

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

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

-  Land acquisition
-  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.

Railway Infrastructure projects enable socio-economic development of the region including:

-  Better integration of the region with other parts of the country
-  Faster movement of goods and services
-  Improving logistics efficiency
- 
- Enhance line capacity
-  Increase  in  direct  and  indirect  employment  opportunities  for  the people of the region
- 
- Reduces operational bottlenecks
-  Development of tourism industry and increase in industrial activities in the region.

*****