Lok Sabha Question No. 489 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2025-12-03
Subject: New Railway Lines in Bilaspur Division
Ministry: RAILWAYS
Asked by: Shri Chintamani Maharaj

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF RAILWAYS

## LOK SABHA

## UNSTARRED QUESTION NO.489 TO BE ANSWERED ON 03.12.2025

## NEW RAILWAY LINES IN BILASPUR DIVISION

†489.    SHRI CHINTAMANI MAHARAJ:

Will the Minister of RAILWAYS be pleased to state :

- (a)  the current status of the Final Location Surveys conducted for new railway lines by the South East Central Railway, Bilaspur Division during the last two years and the current year including the details thereof, year-wise;
- (b)  whether  the  Railways  had  fixed  any  targets  for  laying  new railway lines during the said period and if so, the details thereof along  with  the  extent  to  which  these  targets  have  been achieved; and
- (c)  the  steps  being  taken  by  the  Railways  for  the  approval  of  the surveyed railway lines passing through Ambikapur?

## ANSWER

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

(SHRI ASHWINI VAISHNAW)

- (a)  to  (c)  To  improve  the  connectivity  from  Ambikapur,  following surveys/works have been sanctioned:

|   S.No | Name of the Project                     |   Km | Status         |
|--------|-----------------------------------------|------|----------------|
|      1 | Boridand- Ambikapur (Surajpur) doubling |   80 | Work taken up. |

|   2 | Ambikapur-Ramanujganj- Barwadih new line and spur from Ramanujganj to Garhwa Road   |   262 | Detailed Project Report has been prepared   |
|-----|-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|-------|---------------------------------------------|
|   3 | Sardega - Pathalgaon- Ambikapur new line                                            |   218 | Detailed Project Report has been prepared   |

## CHHATTISGARH

Budget  allocation  in  the  recent  years  has  increased  significantly. Budget allocation for infrastructure projects and safety works, falling fully/partly in the State of Chhattisgarh is as under:

| Period    | Outlay                         |
|-----------|--------------------------------|
| 2009-2014 | ₹311 Cr/year                   |
| 2025-2026 | ₹6925 Cr ( More than 22 times) |

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

| Period   | Total Length Commissioned   | Average Length Commissioned          |
|----------|-----------------------------|--------------------------------------|
| 2009-14  | 32 Km                       | 6.4 Km/Year                          |
| 2014-25  | 1189 Km                     | 108.1 Km/Year ( more than 15 times ) |

As  on  01.04.2025,  26  projects(06  New  Lines  and  20  Doubling), covering  total  length  of  1,931  Km  length,  costing  ₹31,619  crore, falling fully/partly in the state of Chhattisgarh, are sanctioned, out of which 1023 Km length has been commissioned and an expenditure of ₹16,325 crore has been incurred upto March' 2025. The status of the work is summarized as:

| Category                 |   No. of projects |   Total Length NL/GC/DL (in Km) |   Length Commissioned till March'25 (Km) |   Total Exp. upto Mar'25 (₹ in Cr) |
|--------------------------|-------------------|---------------------------------|------------------------------------------|------------------------------------|
| New Lines                |                 6 |                             609 |                                      184 |                               6154 |
| Doubling / Multitracking |                20 |                            1323 |                                      839 |                              10171 |
| Total                    |                26 |                            1931 |                                     1023 |                              16325 |

In last 3 years i.e.(2022-23, 2023-24, 2024-25 and current Financial Year i.e.2025-26), 26 surveys of new railway line covering a length of 3901 km in the South East Central Railway including Ambikapur have been sanctioned.

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 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
-  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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