Lok Sabha Question No. 2037 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2026-02-11
Subject: Railway Projects in Uttarakhand
Ministry: RAILWAYS
Asked by: Shri Ajay Bhatt, Shri Anil Baluni

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF RAILWAYS

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 2037

## TO BE ANSWERED ON 11.02.2026

## RAILWAY PROJECTS IN UTTARAKHAND

†2037. SHRI ANIL BALUNI: SHRI AJAY BHATT:

Will the Minister of RAILWAYS be pleased to state:

- (a)  the  details  of  rail  projects  currently  under  process  in  Uttarakhand including the status of each projects till date;
- (b) whether any of the project is lagging behind the prescribed timeline;
- (c) whether the Government proposes to extend the RishikeshKaranaprayag railway line and if so, the details thereof;
- (d)  whether  any  study  has  been  conducted  in  this  regard  and  if  so,  the details thereof; and
- (e)  the  current  status  of  the  said  railway  line  along  with  the  details thereof?

## ANSWER

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

(SHRI ASHWINI VAISHNAW)

(a)  to  (e):  Budget  allocation  for  Infrastructure  projects  and  safety  works, falling fully/ partly in Uttarakhand is as under:

| Period   | Outlay                           |
|----------|----------------------------------|
| 2009-14  | Rs 187 Crore/year                |
| 2025-26  | Rs 4,641 Crore (nearly 25 times) |

As on 01.04.2025, 03 New Lines, covering total length of 216 Km costing Rs  40,384  crore  falling fully/partly in the  State  of  Uttarakhand  are sanctioned,  out  of  which  16    Km  length  has  been  commissioned  and  an

expenditure of Rs 19,898 crore has been incurred upto March' 2025. The summarized details are as under:-

| Category   |   No. of projec ts |   Total Length (in Km) |   Length Commissioned (in Km) | Expenditure upto March 2025 (Rs in crore)   |
|------------|--------------------|------------------------|-------------------------------|---------------------------------------------|
| New Lines  |                 03 |                    216 |                            16 | 19,898                                      |

To provide rail connectivity to Chardham, Rishikesh-Karnaprayag new rail line project (125 km) has been sanctioned.

The  project  alignment  passes  through  Dehradun,  Tehri  Garhwal,  Pauri Garhwal, Rudrapryag and Chamoli Districts of Uttarakhand and will provide rail connectivity to Devprayag and Karnaprayag religious and tourist spots with Rishikesh and National Capital of India.

The alignment of  the  project  predominantly  passes  through  tunnels.  The project involves construction of 16 Main line tunnels of 104 km length and 12 Escape tunnels of about 98 km length. So far, Main line tunnels of 99 km length and 09 Escape Tunnels of over 94 km length have been completed.

To  increase  progress  of  works,  08  Adits  in  various  tunnels  were  also identified. These adits created additional work faces of tunnel excavation expediting  early  completion  of  long  tunnels.  Works  of  all  8  Adits  (5  km) have also been completed.

The project also involves construction of 19 Important/Major Bridges. 8 out of 19 Important/Major Bridges have also been completed. Works in balance bridges have also been taken up.

## Section wise progress of the project is as under:

|   S.N. | Name of Section                          | Status of Tunnels                                                                                             | Status of Major Bridges                                                       |
|--------|------------------------------------------|---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|-------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
|      1 | Virbhadra- Yog Nagari Rishikesh (4.7 Km) | Already Completed and Commissioned.                                                                           | Already Completed and Commissioned.                                           |
|      2 | Yog Nagari Rishikesh- Shivpuri (13.4 Km) | Tunnel (10.8 km)  94 % excavation completed  Lining taken up                                                | There is 01 Major Bridge in this section, which has been completed            |
|      3 | Shivpuri-Byasi (14.3 Km)                 | Tunnel (12.7 km)  01 out of 02 tunnels completed  Excavation of 2 nd tunnel Completed  lining taken up     | There are 02 Major Bridge in this section. Both have been completed.          |
|      4 | Byasi- Devprayag (15 Km)                 | Tunnel (13.3 km)  03 out of 04 tunnels completed  69% excavation of 4 th tunnel Completed  lining taken up | There are 04 Major Bridge in this section. All 4 bridges have been completed. |
|      5 | Devprayag- Janasu (14.8 Km)              | Tunnel (14.6 km)  Completed                                                                                  | -                                                                             |
|      6 | Janasu- Maletha (4.7 Km)                 | Tunnel (2.9 km)  Completed                                                                                   | There is 01 Major Bridge in this section, which has been completed            |

|   7 | Maletha- Srinagar (5.2 Km)                 | Tunnel (4.1 km)  Completed                               | -                                                                                                                       |
|-----|--------------------------------------------|-----------------------------------------------------------|-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
|   8 | Srinagar-Dhari Devi (11.2 Km)              | Tunnel (9.1 km)  Excavation completed  lining taken up  | There are 03 Major Bridge in this section. 1 Bridge has been completed and work for other 2 Bridges have been taken up. |
|   9 | Dhari Devi- Tilani (Rudraprayag) (17.6 Km) | Tunnel (16.6 km)  Excavation completed  lining taken up | There is 01 Major Bridge in this section, which has been taken up.                                                      |
|  10 | Tilani (Rudraprayag)- Gholtir (7.6 Km)     | Tunnel (6.6 km)  79% Excavation completed                | There are 02 Major Bridge in this section. Work for both the Bridges have been taken up.                                |
|  11 | Gholtir- Gauchar (7.8 Km)                  | Tunnel (7.1 km)  Excavation completed  lining taken up  | -                                                                                                                       |
|  12 | Gauchar- Karnprayag (8.4 Km)               | Tunnel (6.3 km)  Excavation completed  lining taken up  | There are 03 Major Bridge in this section. Work for all 3 Bridges have been taken up.                                   |

To further extend the rail connectivity  to Gangotri, Yamunotri, Kedarnath and Badrinath, survey has been completed. However, the project alignment lies near the main Central thrust of Himalayas which is highly seismically active.

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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