Lok Sabha Question No. 2041 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2026-02-11
Subject: Expansion of Railway Lines in Himachal Pradesh
Ministry: RAILWAYS
Asked by: Dr. Rajeev Bharadwaj

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA

## MINISTRY OF RAILWAYS

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 2041

## TO BE ANSWERED ON 11.02.2026

## EXPANSION OF RAILWAY LINES IN HIMACHAL PRADESH

†2041. DR. RAJEEV BHARADWAJ:

Will the Minister of RAILWAYS be pleased to state:

- (a)  the  details  of  the  funds  allocated  by  the  Government  to  Himachal Pradesh for expansion of railways in the Budget 2025-26; and
- (b)  the  time  line  by  when  the  proposed  work  on  Amb-Andaura-BaijnathPapraula and Palampur-Shimla stations in Himachal Pradesh is likely to be started under Amrit Bharat Station?

## ANSWER

MINISTER OF RAILWAYS, INFORMATION & BROADCASTING AND

ELECTRONICS & INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

(SHRI ASHWINI VAISHNAW)

(a)  &  (b):  The  Railway  projects  are  surveyed/  sanctioned/executed  Zonal Railway  wise  and  not  State-wise/District-wise  as  the  Railways'  projects may span across state boundaries.

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) |

As on 01.04.2025, 03 New line of total length 214 km, costing Rs.17,622 crore, falling fully/partly in the state of Himachal Pradesh are sanctioned,

out  of  which, 64 km length has been commissioned  and an expenditure of Rs. 8280 crore has been incurred upto March, 2025.

To improve connectivity in Himachal Pradesh, Nangal Dam - Una - Andaura Daulatpur Chowk (60 km) section of Nangal Dam - Talwara - Mukerian new line  project  has  been  commissioned.  Work  of  Daulatpur  Chowk  -  Kartoli Punjab  -  Talwara  (52  km)  section  has  been  taken  up.    Further,  work  of Chandigarh-Baddi New Line (28 Km) have also been taken up at a cost of Rs. 1540 crore.

Bhanupalli-Bilaspur-Beri (63km) New Rail Line project has been sanctioned on cost sharing basis having 25% share of State Government of Himachal Pradesh and 75 % share of Central Government. Further, full cost of land beyond Rs. 70 crore is to be borne by Government of Himachal Pradesh. Detailed Estimate of the project was sanctioned at a cost of Rs.6753 crore including land cost of Rs. 1617 crore.

In  Himachal Pradesh, 124 Ha of land is required for the execution of the project. Against this requirement, only 82 Ha have been provided by State Government of Himachal Pradesh. Work has been taken up on the available land. Land beyond Bilaspur to Beri is yet to be handed over by Government of  Himachal  Pradesh.  Non-availability  of  land  is  adversely  affecting  the project.

The total expenditure incurred on the project is Rs.7,729 crore. As per cost sharing arrangements Rs. 2,781 crore was to be given by Government of Himachal  Pradesh.  However,  they  have  deposited  only  Rs.  847  crore  as their share of cost. Thus, Rs.1,934 crore is balance with State Government of  Himachal  Pradesh.  Non  deposition  of  their  share  of  cost  is  adversely affecting the progress of project.

The  progress  of  this  project  is  affected  due  to  non  fulfillment  of  their commitments by State Govt.

The  Government  of  India  is  geared  up  to  execute  projects,  however success depends upon the support of Government of Himachal Pradesh. Moreover,  to  improve  rail  connectivity  in  Himachal  Pradesh,  Survey  for Baddi-Ghanauli new line (25 Km) has been completed and Detailed Project Report (DPR) has been prepared.

After preparation of DPR, sanctioning of project requires consultation with various stake-holders including State Governments and necessary approvals  viz. appraisal of NITI Aayog,  Ministry of  Finance  etc.  As sanctioning  of  projects  is  a  continuous  and  dynamic  process,  exact timelines cannot be fixed.

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.

## Station Redevelopment:-

Ministry  of  Railways  has  launched  Amrit  Bharat  Station  Scheme  for redevelopment of stations with a long-term approach.

The scheme involves preparation of master plans and their implementation in phases to improve the stations. The master planning includes:

-  Improvement of access to station and circulating areas
-  Integration of station with both sides of city
-  Improvement of station building
-  Improvement  of  waiting  halls,  toilets,  sitting  arrangement,  water booths
-  Provision of wider foot over bridge/air concourse commensurate with passenger traffic
-  Provision of lift/escalators/ramp
-  Improvement /Provision of platform surface and cover over platforms
-  Provision  of  kiosks  for  local  products  through  schemes  like  'One Station One Product'
-  Parking areas, Multimodal integration
-  Amenities for Divyangjans
-  Better passenger information systems
-  Provision of executive lounges, nominated spaces for business meetings,  landscaping,  etc.  keeping  in  view  the  necessity  at  each station.

The scheme also envisages sustainable and environment friendly solutions, provision of ballastless tracks etc. as per necessity, phasing and feasibility and creation of city centre at the station in the long term.

So  far,  1337  stations  have  been  identified  for  development  under  Amrit Bharat Station Scheme, out of which 04 stations including Amb Andaura,Baijnath  Paprola,Palampur  Himachal  and  Shimla  stations,  are located in the Himachal Pradesh.

Development  works  have  been  completed  at  Amb  Andaura  and  Baijnath Paprola stations. Palampur Himachal and Shimla stations are under master planning.

Master Planning is an iterative process requiring optimization and the time frame and other details for such optimization cannot be indicated at this stage.

Development / Redevelopment / Upgradation / Modernisation of stations on Indian  Railways  is  a  continuous  and  ongoing  process  and  works  in  this regard are undertaken as per requirement, subject to inter-se priority and availability of funds. Development / redevelopment / upgradation / modernisation of a station is carried out based on category of station/condition/traffic handled etc.

Further, development / upgradation of railway stations is complex in nature involving  safety  of  passengers  &  trains  and  requires  various  statutory clearances such as fire clearance, heritage, tree cutting, airport clearance etc. The progress also gets affected due to brownfield related challenges such  as  shifting  of  utilities  (involving  water/sewage  lines,  optical  fibre cables, gas pipe lines, power/signal cables, etc.), infringements, operation of trains without hindering passenger movement, speed restrictions due to works carriedout in close proximity of tracks and high voltage power lines, etc. and these factors affect the completion time.Therefore, no time frame can be indicated at this stage.

Development  /  Upgradation  /  Modernisation  of  stations  including  under Amrit  Bharat  Station  Scheme  is  generally  funded  under  Plan  Head-53 'Customer Amenities'. The details of allocation and expenditure under Plan Head-53 are maintained Zonal Railway-wise and not work-wise, or stationwise or state-wise. Himachal Pradesh is covered under the jurisdiction of Northern Railway. For  this  zone,  an  allocation  of  ₹  1,483  crore  has  been made for the financial year 2025-26, out of which an expenditure of ₹ 1,308 crore (up to December, 2025) has been incurred so far.

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