Lok Sabha Question No. 2062 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2026-02-11
Subject: Krishnanagar-Karimpur-Domkal (West Bengal) Railway Line
Ministry: RAILWAYS
Asked by: Md Abu Taher Khan

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## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF RAILWAYS

## LOK SABHA

## UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 2062 TO BE ANSWERED ON 11.02.2026

## KRISHNANAGAR-KARIMPUR-DOMKAL (WEST BENGAL) RAILWAY LINE

## 2062. MD ABU TAHER KHAN:

Will the Minister of RAILWAYS be pleased to state:

- (a)  whether  the  Government  is  aware  of  the  long  pending  demand  of passengers  for  Krishnanagar-Karimpur-Domkal  Railway  Line  for  trade, tourism and other reasons and if so, the details thereof;
- (b) whether the Government has set an outlay for the same and if so, the details thereof;
- (c) whether the Government proposes to implement the construction of the line and if so, the details thereof; and
- (d)  whether  the  Government  has  studied  the  impact  on  trade  due  to unavailability  of  the  line  and  if  so,  the  details  thereof  and  if  not,  the reasons therefor?

## ANSWER

MINISTER OF RAILWAYS, INFORMATION & BROADCASTING AND

ELECTRONICS & INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY (SHRI ASHWINI VAISHNAW)

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(a) to (d) : Survey of Krishnanagar-Karimpur (86 Km) new rail line project has been completed. However, the project could not be taken forward due to low traffic projection.

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) |

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

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                 |

|   S. No. | Project                                        |   Cost (Rs. in Cr.) |
|----------|------------------------------------------------|---------------------|
|       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 |
|       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 |

## 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   |

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) |   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 new line                     |  168 |   0 |  168 |  0    |
|    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.

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

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 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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