Lok Sabha Question No. 673 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2025-12-03
Subject: Bhanupli–Bilaspur–Manali–Leh Railway Project
Ministry: RAILWAYS
Asked by: Shri Anurag Singh Thakur

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF RAILWAYS

## LOK SABHA

## UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 673 TO BE ANSWERED ON 03.12.2025

## BHANUPLI - BILASPUR - MANALI  -LEH RAILWAY PROJECT

## 673. SHRI ANURAG SINGH THAKUR:

Will the Minister of RAILWAYS be pleased to state:

- (a) the current status of the Bhanupli-Bilaspur-Manali-Leh railway line and Nangal-Una-Talwara Railway line along with details of works completed and under progress, Section-wise;
- (b) whether the timelines for completion have been revised and if so, the details and reasons therefor;
- (c) the details of the sanctioned cost, funds released, expenditure incurred so far and anticipated cost overruns, if any;
- (d) the details of the land acquisition position including total land required/land acquired along with the reasons for pendency;
- (e) whether statutory clearances such as environmental/forest/defence are pending and if  so,  the  details  thereof  along  with  the  timeline  for  their disposal;
- (f) whether  any  problems  have  arisen  from  the  State  Governments  of Punjab and Himachal relating to land/compensation/alignment/ cooperation and if so, the details thereof along with steps taken by the Union Government to remediate them; and
- (g) the details of the major terrain/technical challenges being faced by the Railway along with measures proposed to address them?

## ANSWER

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

(SHRI ASHWINI VAISHNAW)

- (a)  to  (g):  Bhanupalli-Bilaspur-Beri  (63km)  New  Rail  Line  project  has  been sanctioned on cost sharing basis with the State Govt..

In  this  project,  82  Ha  land  out  of  total  required  124.02  Ha  land  in  Himachal Pradesh has been acquired. The work on available land has been taken up. So far,  an  expenditure  of  ₹5252  crore  has  been  incurred  on  this  Project.  ₹1843 crore is outstanding with Government of Himachal Pradesh. Failure to make this contribution is adversely affecting the project.

The  progress  of  this  project  is  also  affected  due  to  non  fulfillment  of commitments by State Govt. The support of State Govt is required to expedite the Project.

The Government of India is geared up to execute projects, however success depends upon the support of Government of Himachal Pradesh.

Bilaspur-Manali-Leh New is identified as strategic line by Ministry of Defence. Survey of Bilaspur-Manali-Leh new line project (489 km) has been completed and Detailed Project Report has been prepared. Anticipated cost of the project as per Detailed Project Report is ₹1,31,000 crore.

Nangal Dam - Una - Andaura - Daulatpur Chowk (60 km) section of Nangal Dam -  Talwara  -  Mukerian  New  line  project  has  been  completed  and  opened  for traffic  since  January,  2019.  Work  of  Daulatpur  Chowk  -  Kartoli  Punjab  Talwara (52 km) section  falling fully/partly in State of Punjab have been taken up. An expenditure of Rs. 2568 crore has been incurred so far.

## Himachal Pradesh

Budget  allocation  for  Infrastructure  projects  and  safety  works,  falling  fully/ partly in the state of Himachal Pradesh is as under:

| Period   | Outlay                          |
|----------|---------------------------------|
| 2009-14  | ₹108 crore/year                 |
| 2025-26  | ₹ 2716 Cr. (More than 25 times) |

The details of commissioning / laying of  new track falling fully/partly in the State of Himachal Pradesh during 2009-14 and 2014-25 is as under :-

| Period   | New Track Commissioned   | Average Commissioning of new tracks   |
|----------|--------------------------|---------------------------------------|
| 2009-14  | -                        | -                                     |
| 2014-25  | 16 km                    | 1.5 km per year                       |

As on 01.04.2025, 03 New line of total length 214 km, costing ₹17622 crore, falling fully/partly in the state of Himachal Pradesh are in construction stage, out  of  which, 64  km length has been commissioned  and an expenditure of ₹8280  crore  has  been  incurred  upto  March,  2025.  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 Cr) |
|-------------|-------------------|------------------------|-------------------------------|----------------------------------------|
| New Lines   |                 3 |                    214 |                            64 |                                   8280 |

Details  of  some  of  the  recently  completed  projects  falling  fully/partly  in  the State of Himachal Pradesh are as under:

|   S. No. | Project                                      |   Cost (Rs. in Cr.) |
|----------|----------------------------------------------|---------------------|
|        1 | Nangal Dam Daulat Pur Chowk New Line (61 Km) |                 672 |

Some  of  the  projects  falling  fully/partly  in  the  State  of  Himachal  Pradesh which have been taken up are as under:

|   SN. | Project                                  |   Cost (Rs. in Cr.) |
|-------|------------------------------------------|---------------------|
|     1 | Chandigarh-Baddi New Line (28 Km)        |                1540 |
|     2 | Bhanupalli-Bilaspur-Beri New Line(63 Km) |                6753 |

## Punjab

Budget allocation for Infrastructure projects and safety works, falling fully/partly in the State of Punjab is as under:

| Period   | Outlay                           |
|----------|----------------------------------|
| 2009-14  | ₹225 crore/year                  |
| 2025-26  | ₹ 5,421 Cr. (More than 24 times) |

As on 01.04.2025, 09 projects (04 new line and 05 doubling) of total length 714 Km, costing Rs.21,926 crore, falling fully/partly in the State of Punjab are in different  stages  of  planning/sanctioning/execution,  out  of  which  115  Km length has been commissioned and an expenditure of Rs.8,079 crore has been incurred upto March' 2025. The summary is as under:-

| Category                |   No. of projects | Total Length   | Length Commissio ned   | Expenditure upto March 2025 (Rs.in Crore)   |
|-------------------------|-------------------|----------------|------------------------|---------------------------------------------|
| New line                |                04 | 252 Km         | 64 Km                  | 7359                                        |
| Doubling /multitracking |                05 | 462 Km         | 51 Km                  | 720                                         |
| Total                   |                09 | 714 Km         | 115 Km                 | 8,079                                       |

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

|   S. No. | Project                                                      |   Cost (Rs. in Cr.) |
|----------|--------------------------------------------------------------|---------------------|
|        1 | Chakki Bank-Bharoli Doubling (3 Km)                          |               15    |
|        2 | Jakhal- Mansa Doubling (45 Km)                               |              163    |
|        3 | Mirthal-Bhangala Beas River Doubling (2.5 Km)                |               74.17 |
|        4 | Ambala-Dhapper-chandigarh Doubling (45 Km)                   |              338.54 |
|        5 | Mansa - Bhatinda Doubling (49 Km)                            |              216    |
|        6 | Amritsar to Chheharta Doubling (7 Km)                        |               30.91 |
|        7 | Jallandhar-Pathankot-Jammu Tawi Doubling (209 km)            |              850    |
|        8 | Kathua-Madhopur Punjab - doubling across Ravi Bridge(2.5 Km) |              257.16 |
|        9 | Rajpura-Bhatinda Doubling (173 Km)                           |             2458.99 |

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

|   SN. | Project                                                                        |   Cost (Rs. in Cr.) |
|-------|--------------------------------------------------------------------------------|---------------------|
|     1 | Nangal Dam-Talwara & Taking over siding of Mukerian- Talwara New line (143 Km) |                2018 |
|     2 | Bhanupalli-Bilaspur-Beri New Line(63 Km)                                       |                6753 |
|     3 | Qadian-Beas New Line(40 km)                                                    |                 842 |
|     4 | Ferozpur-Patti New Line (26 Km)                                                |                 300 |
|     5 | Rama Mandi( Raman)-Maur Mandi(Maur) via Talwandi Sabo ( 29 km) New Line        |                 154 |
|     6 | Ludhiana-Kila Raipur doubling (19 Km)                                          |                 238 |
|     7 | Ludhiana-Mullanpur doubling (21 Km)                                            |                 235 |
|     8 | Rajpura-Mohali New Line (18 km)                                                |                 443 |

Government  of  India  is  geared  up  to  execute  projects,  however  success depends upon the support of Government of Punjab. For instance, 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 | Firozpur-Patti new line                    |                           166 |                       0 |                                   166 |
|    2 | Alal-Himmatana Chord line                  |                            20 |                       0 |                                    20 |
|    3 | Qadian-Beas New Line                       |                           151 |                       0 |                                   151 |
|    4 | Rama Mandi( Raman)- Talwandi Sabo New Line |                            85 |                       0 |                                    85 |

Firozpur-Patti New line (26 km) situated fully in Punjab is an important project near the international border. Land for project was to be handed over free of cost  for  this  project  by  State  Govt.  of  Punjab.  Total  166  Ha  land  is  to  be acquired in the districts of Firozpur and Tarn Taran. Award for entire land has been published in Mar'23. However, disbursement of award has not been done by  state  govt.  considering  delay  in  execution  of  this  important  border  area project,  Ministry  of  Railways  has decided to take up Firozpur-Patti  New line (26 km) through its own funding.

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.

- *****