Lok Sabha Question No. 3066 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2026-03-11
Subject: North-East and North Bengal Corridor Rail Project
Ministry: RAILWAYS
Asked by: Shri Adhikari Soumendu

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## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF RAILWAYS

## LOK SABHA

## UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 3066

## TO BE ANSWERED ON 11.03.2026

## NORTH-EAST AND NORTH BENGAL CORRIDOR RAIL PROJECT

## 3066. SHRI ADHIKARI SOUMENDU:

Will the Minister of RAILWAYS be pleased to state:

- (a)  the  details  of  the  total  amount  of  funds  allocated  for  northeast  and North-Bengal corridor rail project in the Union Budget for the financial year 2026-27, Project-wise;
- (b)  whether  Government  is  aware  of  the  environmental  related  aspects with strict adherence to environmental regulations to minimize ecological damage while implementing the projects in this region and if so,  the  details  and  steps  taken  to  ensure  environment  protection therein;
- (c)  the  details  of  the  ongoing  Railway  projects  in  North  Eastern  Region (NER) including North Bengal, State-wise; and
- (d) the details of the project connecting Bhutan and neighboring countries including  projects  proposed/expected  project  outcomes/the  expected year of completion thereof?

## ANSWER

MINISTER OF RAILWAYS, INFORMATION & BROADCASTING AND ELECTRONICS & INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY (SHRI ASHWINI VAISHNAW)

(a)  to  (d):  Budget  allocation  during  the  last  five  years  has  increased significantly. Budget allocation for infrastructure projects and safety works, falling fully/partly in North Eastern Region (NER) is as under:-

| Period   | Outlay                        |
|----------|-------------------------------|
| 2009-14  | ₹2,122 crore/year             |
| 2025-26  | ₹10,440 crore (about 5 times) |

Track Construction:

The details of commissioning/laying of new track falling fully/partly in North Eastern Region (NER) during 2009-14 and 2014-2025 is as under:-

| Period   | New track   | Average commissioning of new     |
|----------|-------------|----------------------------------|
| 2009-14  | 333 Km      | 66.6 Km/year                     |
| 2014-25  | 1,840 Km    | 167.27 Km/year (about 2.5 times) |

## Projects sanctioned:

As  on  01.04.2025,  12  Railway  projects  (08  New  Lines,  04  Doubling),  of  a total  length  of  777  Km,  costing  ₹69,342  crore  falling  fully/partly  in  North Eastern Region (NER) have been sanctioned. The summary is as under:-

| Category                |   No. of sanctione d projects |   Total Length (in Km) |   Length Commissioned upto Mar'25 (in Km) | Exp. upto Mar'25 (₹ in Cr.)   |
|-------------------------|-------------------------------|------------------------|-------------------------------------------|-------------------------------|
| New Lines               |                            08 |                    448 |                                       113 | 38,078                        |
| Doubling/Multitrack ing |                            04 |                    329 |                                       165 | 3,598                         |
| Total                   |                            12 |                    777 |                                       278 | 41,676                        |

Recently completed projects:

Projects  commissioned  falling  fully/partly  in  North  East  Region,  are  as under:

|   S.No. | Project                                                                       | Cost (₹ in crore)   |
|---------|-------------------------------------------------------------------------------|---------------------|
|       1 | Agartala - Sabroom new line (112 Km)                                          | 3,170               |
|       2 | Agartala - Akhaura new line (5 Km)                                            | 865                 |
|       3 | Rangiya - Murkongselek gauge conversion (510 Km)                              | 3,019               |
|       4 | Kumarghat - Agartala gauge conversion (109 Km)                                | 1,242               |
|       5 | Lumding - Badarpur - Silchar & Badarpur - Kumarghat gauge conversion (412 Km) | 6,500               |
|       6 | Lumding - Hojai doubling (45 Km)                                              | 410                 |
|       7 | Digaru - Hojai doubling (102 Km)                                              | 1,873               |
|       8 | New Bongaigaon - Agthori doubling (143 Km)                                    | 2,048               |
|       9 | Bogibeel Bridge (92 Km)                                                       | 5,820               |

## Ongoing Projects:

Some  of  the  main  projects  falling  fully/partly  in  the  North  East  Region which have been taken up are as under:-

|   S.No. | Name of the project                      | Cost (₹ In crore)   |
|---------|------------------------------------------|---------------------|
|       1 | Jiribam - Imphal new line (111 Km)       | 21,886              |
|       2 | Dimapur - Kohima new line (82 Km)        | 15,230              |
|       3 | Murkongselek - Pasighat new line (27 Km) | 1,249               |

|   4 | New Bongaigaon - Goalpara - Guwahati (Kamakhaya) doubling (176 Km)   | 4,962   |
|-----|----------------------------------------------------------------------|---------|
|   5 | Saraighat Bridge doubling (7 Km)                                     | 1,474   |
|   6 | Kamkhya Guwahati 3 rd line (6 Km)                                    | 395     |
|   7 | Lumding - Furkating doubling (140 Km)                                | 2,124   |
|   8 | Furkating - Tinsukia doubling (194 Km)                               | 3,634   |

Connectivity  with  Bhutan  and  neighbouring  countries:  The  details  of  rail connectivity  projects  taken  up  between  India  and  neighbouring  countries are as under:

| S.No.      | Name of the project                                                                    | Cost (₹ in crore)   |
|------------|----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|---------------------|
| Bhutan     | Bhutan                                                                                 | Bhutan              |
| 1.         | Kokrajhar (Assam, India)-Gelephu (Bhutan) Rail Link (67 km)                            | 3,456               |
| 2.         | Banarhat (West Bengal, India)-Samtse (Bhutan) Rail Link (17 km)                        | 577                 |
| Nepal      | Nepal                                                                                  | Nepal               |
| 1.         | Jogbani (Bihar, India)-Biratnagar (Nepal) Rail Link (18 km)                            | 480                 |
| 2.         | Jaynagar (Bihar, India)-Bijalpura with extension to Bardibas (Nepal) Rail Link (69 km) | 784                 |
| Bangladesh | Bangladesh                                                                             | Bangladesh          |
| 1.         | Mahishashan (Assam, India)-Zero Point (Bangladesh) Rail Link (3 km)                    | 39                  |

These  projects  are  being  progressed  in  close  consultation  with  the respective countries and timelines for completion  will  depend  upon statutory  clearances,  land  acquisition  and  geo-political  scenarios  of  the country.

The  advantage  of  above  projects  are  expected  to  significantly  enhance regional  connectivity  and  economic  integration  by  improving  cross-border rail  links,  thereby  reducing  logistics  costs  and  transit  time  for  import  and export  cargo.  These  initiatives  will  also  improve  promote  development  of border areas, and further strengthen bilateral trade and strategic cooperation with neighbouring countries.

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.

Various steps taken by the Government for effective and speedy implementation of rail projects include:

-  Substantial increase in allocation of funds.
-  Delegation of powers at field level.
-  Close monitoring of progress of project at various levels.
-  Regular  follow  up  with  State  Governments  and  concerned authorities for expeditious land acquisition, forestry and Wildlife clearances and for resolving other issues pertaining to projects.

## Environment Aspects:

Railways are environment friendly and energy-efficient mode of transportation,  yielding  substantially  lower  CO2  emissions.  Reduction  in CO2 emissions in transportation by railways as compared to transportation by road is as under (Ref:- NITI Aayog Report titled Fast Tracking Freight in India, June 2021'):

| Mode of transportation   | CO2 emission for transportation of 1 tonne for 1 Km   |
|--------------------------|-------------------------------------------------------|
| Road                     | 101 gm                                                |
| Rail                     | 11.5 gm (about 89% less)                              |

Shifting of one MT of freight from road to rail reduces the carbon emission by about 5.37 Crore Kg. During the period from 2014 to 2025, about 562 MT freight  has  shifted  to  railways  which  corresponds  to  reduction  in  carbon emission amounting to 3,018 crore kg.

As  per  the  extant  policy  guidelines,  Railway  projects  are  exempted  from environmental clearance. However, forestry/wild life clearances are taken from  Ministry  of  Environment,  Forest  and  Climate  Change  (MoEF&CC), wherever the diversion of forest land is involved.

Electric traction is more environment friendly and energy efficient. Accordingly, electrification of railway network on Indian Railways has been taken up in mission mode. So far, 99.4% of Broad Gauge (BG) network has been electrified. The electrification  in remaining network has been taken up. Electrification carried out during 2014-25 and before 2014 is as under:

| Period                       | Route Kilometre   |
|------------------------------|-------------------|
| Before 2014 (about 60 years) | 21,801            |
| 2014-25                      | 46,900            |

Further,  Indian  Railways  has  instituted  several  mechanisms  to  minimize ecological  impacts  during  construction  and  operation  of  projects,  which inter alia include: Afforestation in coordination with State Forest Departments  where  forest  land is involved, adoption of eco-friendly construction  practices,  including  proper  disposal  of  construction  debris, slope stabilization, and protection of natural drainage, provision of wildlife crossings,  animal  underpasses/overpasses  and  other  mitigation  measures in  environmentally  sensitive  areas,  wherever  required  and  continuous monitoring  of environmental safeguards during project implementation by concerned railway authorities.

## Vande Bharat /Amrit Bharat / Vande Bharat Sleeper Trains:

As the railway network straddles across State/regional boundaries Constituency(ies), trains are operated, as per network requirement, across such  boundaries.  However,  on  originating/terminating  basis,  18  Vande Bharat Chair Car services, 02 Vande Bharat Sleeper train services  and 18 Amrit Bharat services are catering to the needs of stations located in the State of West Bengal. These are listed below:

## Vande Bharat Services [chair car]:

|   SN | Train no. and Name                                       |
|------|----------------------------------------------------------|
|    1 | 22301/22302 Howrah-New Jalpaiguri Vande Bharat Express   |
|    2 | 22895/22896 Howrah-Puri Vande Bharat Express             |
|    3 | 22227/22228 Guwahati-New jalpaiguri Vande Bharat Express |
|    4 | 20897/20898 Howrah-Ranchi Vande Bharat Express           |
|    5 | 22347/22348 Howrah-Patna Vande Bharat Express            |
|    6 | 22233/22234 New jalpaiguri -Patna Vande Bharat Express   |
|    7 | 22303/22304 Howrah-Gaya Vande Bharat Express             |
|    8 | 20871/20872 Howrah-Rourkela Vande Bharat Express         |
|    9 | 22309/22310 Howrah-Jamalpur Vande Bharat Express         |

## Vande Bharat Services(Sleeper)

|   SN | Train no. and Name                                        |
|------|-----------------------------------------------------------|
|    1 | 27575/27576 Howrah- Kamakhya Vande Bharat Sleeper Express |

## Amrit Bharat services

|   SN | Train no. and Name                                                |
|------|-------------------------------------------------------------------|
|    1 | 13434/13433 Malda town-SMVT Bengaluru Amrit Bharat Express        |
|    2 | 13435/13436 Malda Town-Gomti Nagar Amrit Bharat Express           |
|    3 | 20603/20604 Nagercoil -New jalpaiguri Amrit Bharat Express        |
|    4 | 20609/20610 Tiruchchirappalli-New jalpaiguri Amrit Bharat Express |
|    5 | 16107/16108 Tambaram-Santragachi Amrit Bharat Express             |
|    6 | 13065/13066 Howrah-Anand Vihar(T) Amrit Bharat Express            |
|    7 | 22587/22588 Banaras-Sealdah Amrit Bharat Express                  |
|    8 | 16597/16598 SMVT Bengaluru-Alipurduar Amrit Bharat Express        |
|    9 | 11031/11032 Panvel-Alipurduar Amrit Bharat Express                |

Further, Presently, stations located in Northeast region, served by Northeast  Frontier  Railway,  are  being  catered  by  02  Vande  Bharat  Chair Car  services,  02  Vande  Bharat  Sleeper  services  and  04  Amrit  Bharat Services as listed below:-

## Vande Bharat services [Chair Car]

|   SN | Train Number and Name                                      |
|------|------------------------------------------------------------|
|    1 | 22227/22228 New Jalpaiguri - Guwahati Vande Bharat Express |

## Vande Bharat services [Sleeper]

|   SN | Train Number and Name                                      |
|------|------------------------------------------------------------|
|    1 | 27575/27578 Howrah - Kamakhya Vande Bharat Sleeper Express |

Amrit Bharat Services

|   SN | Train Number and Name                                              |
|------|--------------------------------------------------------------------|
|    1 | 15671/15672 Kamakhya - Rohtak Amrit Bharat Express                 |
|    2 | 15949/15950 Dibrugarh - Gomti Nagar (Lucknow) Amrit Bharat Express |

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