Lok Sabha Question No. 1737 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2025-12-10
Subject: Number of Railway Zones in Karnataka
Ministry: RAILWAYS
Asked by: Shri G Kumar Naik

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA

## MINISTRY OF RAILWAYS

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 1737

## TO BE ANSWERED ON 10.12.2025

## NUMBER OF RAILWAY ZONES IN KARNATAKA

## 1737. SHRI G KUMAR NAIK:

Will the Minister of RAILWAYS be pleased to state:

- (a) the total number of railway zones in the country and the railway density in each zone, State/UT-wise;
- (b)
- the railway density in Karnataka, district-wise;
- (c) whether  the  Government  has  a  policy  that  defines  the minimum  railway  density  required  to  adequately  meet public transportation needs and support economic growth and if so, the details thereof;
- (d) whether the existing railway density is sufficient to meet the needs of the people and if so, the details thereof; and
- (e) the  details  of  any  schemes/initiatives  proposed  by  the Government to enhance railway density in Karnataka?

## ANSWER

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

(SHRI ASHWINI VAISHNAW)

(a) to (e) : There are 17 Railway Zones operational (including Metro Railway, Kolkata) in the country. Further, foundation stone of new South Coast Railway (SCoR) zone has been laid recently.

The details of Zonal Railway wise route km is given below: -

| S.No.   | Railway            | Route Km. (as on 31.03.2025)   |
|---------|--------------------|--------------------------------|
| 1       | Central            | 4353                           |
| 2       | Eastern            | 2855                           |
| 3       | East Central       | 4400                           |
| 4       | East Coast         | 3162                           |
| 5       | Northern           | 7477                           |
| 6       | North Central      | 3518                           |
| 7       | North Eastern      | 3494                           |
| 8       | Northeast Frontier | 4412                           |
| 9       | North Western      | 5613                           |
| 10      | Southern           | 5104                           |
| 11      | South Central      | 6637                           |
| 12      | South Eastern      | 2749                           |
| 13      | South East Central | 2448                           |
| 14      | South Western      | 3711                           |
| 15      | Western            | 6284                           |
| 16      | West Central       | 3177                           |
| 17      | Metro, Kolkata     | 45                             |
|         | Total              | 69,439                         |

The new SCoR zone is in the process of setting up.

Railway network in any area depends upon the population density of that  area,  terrain,  geographical  features,  etc.  Therefore,  Railway density varies from region to region.

The rail infrastructure augmentation plan inter-alia focuses on the network capacity enhancement, removal of bottlenecks, increasing average speed of freight trains, reduction in cargo transit time and cost.  Further,  to  improve  capacity  of  existing  network,  several capacity enhancement/augmentation survey/works have been sanctioned  by  railways.  These  works  include  multi  tracking,  rail flyovers, by pass lines, yard remodelling works etc.

Railway  projects  are  surveyed/sanctioned/executed  Zonal  Railway wise and not State-wise/District wise as the Railway projects may span across State boundaries. Railway projects are sanctioned on the basis of remunerativeness, traffic projections, last mile connectivity,  missing  links  and  alternate  routes,  augmentation  of congested/saturated  lines,  demands  raised  by  State  Governments, Central Ministries, Members of Parliament, other public representatives, Railway's own  operational requirement, socioeconomic  considerations  etc.  depending  upon  throw  forward  of ongoing projects and overall availability of funds.

As on 01.04.2025, across Indian Railways, 431 Railway infrastructure projects (154 New Line, 33 Gauge Conversion and 244 Doubling)  of  total  length  35,966  Km,  costing approx.  ₹6.75  lakh crore are sanctioned. The summary is as under: -

| Category                 |   No of Projects | Total Length NL/GC/DL (km)   | Length Commissioned till Mar'25 (km)   | Total Exp upto Mar'25 (₹ in Cr)   |
|--------------------------|------------------|------------------------------|----------------------------------------|-----------------------------------|
| New Lines                |              154 | 16,142                       | 3,036                                  | 1,45,318                          |
| Gauge Conversion         |               33 | 4,180                        | 2,997                                  | 22,753                            |
| Doubling / Multitracking |              244 | 15,644                       | 6,736                                  | 1,22,858                          |
| Total                    |              431 | 35,966                       | 12,769                                 | 2,90,929                          |

Zone-wise/year-wise details of all Railway projects are  made available in public domain on Indian Railway's website.

The  details  of  commissioning  /  laying  of  new  track  across  Indian Railways is given below: -

| Period   | New track Commissioned   | Average commissioning of new tracks   |
|----------|--------------------------|---------------------------------------|
| 2009-14  | 7,599 Km                 | 4.2 Km/day                            |
| 2014-25  | 34,428 Km                | 8.57 Km/day (more than 2 times)       |

## Karnataka: -

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

| Period   | Outlay                           |
|----------|----------------------------------|
| 2009-14  | ₹835 crore/year                  |
| 2025-26  | ₹7,564 crore (more than 9 times) |

As on 01.04.2025, 25 projects (15 new lines, 10 doubling) of 3,264 km length, costing ₹42,517 crore falling fully/partly in Karnataka are sanctioned. The summary is as under: -

| Category                |   No of sanctioned Projects | Total Length (in km)   | Length Commissioned Upto Mar'25 (km)   | Exp upto Mar'25 (₹ in cr.)   |
|-------------------------|-----------------------------|------------------------|----------------------------------------|------------------------------|
| New Line                |                          15 | 2,034                  | 421                                    | 8,794                        |
| Doubling/ Multitracking |                          10 | 1,230                  | 973                                    | 12,516                       |
| Total                   |                          25 | 3,264                  | 1,394                                  | 21,310                       |

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

|   S.No | Project                                     | Cost (₹in Crores)   |
|--------|---------------------------------------------|---------------------|
|      1 | Kottur-Harihar new line (65 km)             | 468                 |
|      2 | Hassan-Bangalore new line (167 km)          | 1,290               |
|      3 | Bidar-Gulbarga new line (110 km)            | 1,543               |
|      4 | Shivani-Hosadurga Road doubling (10 km)     | 50                  |
|      5 | Shivani-Birur doubling (29 km)              | 143                 |
|      6 | Hosadurga-Chikjajur doubling (29 km)        | 260                 |
|      7 | Ramanagram-Mysore patch doubling (94 km)    | 998                 |
|      8 | Yelahanka - Chennasadra doubling (13 km)    | 108                 |
|      9 | Yeshwantpur-Yelahanka doubling (12 km)      | 95                  |
|     10 | Netrawati-Mangalore Central doubling (2 km) | 28                  |

|   11 | Kankanadi-Panambur doubling (19 km)   | 350   |
|------|---------------------------------------|-------|
|   12 | Arsikere-Tumkur doubling (96 km)      | 758   |
|   13 | Yelahanka-Penukonda doubling (123 km) | 1,104 |
|   14 | Daund-Gulbarga doubling (225 km)      | 3,182 |
|   15 | Hubli-Chikjajur doubling (190 km)     | 1,850 |

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

|   S No. | Project                                            | Cost (₹in Crores)   |
|---------|----------------------------------------------------|---------------------|
|       1 | Hospet-Hubli-Londa-Vasco-de-Gama doubling (312 km) | 4,153               |
|       2 | Hotgi-Gadag doubling (284 km)                      | 2,459               |
|       3 | Ginigera - Raichur new line (165 km)               | 3,401               |
|       4 | Gadag - Wadi new line (257 km)                     | 2,842               |
|       5 | Bagalkot - Kudachi new line (142 km)               | 1,649               |
|       6 | Tumkur - Rayadurga new line (207 km)               | 2,496               |
|       7 | Tumkur - Davangere new line (182 km)               | 2,142               |
|       8 | Kadur - Chikmagalur - Belur new line (68 km)       | 825                 |
|       9 | Baiyyapanahalli - Hosur doubling (48 km)           | 336                 |
|      10 | Yeshwanthpur - Channasandra doubling (22 km)       | 314                 |

In  last  three  years  i.e.  2022-23,  2023-24,  2024-25  and  current financial  year  2025-26,  65  surveys  (25  new  line  and  40  doubling) covering  a  total  length  of  7,239  km  has  been  sanctioned  falling fully/partly in the State of Karnataka.

Details  of  some  major  projects  which  are  delayed  due  to  land acquisition are as under: -

|   S No. | Project                               |   Total Land required (in Ha) |   Land acquired (in Ha) |   Balance Land to be acquired (in Ha) |
|---------|---------------------------------------|-------------------------------|-------------------------|---------------------------------------|
|       1 | Shimoga -Rannebennur new line (96 km) |                           559 |                     226 |                                   333 |
|       2 | Belgaum - Dharwad new line (73 km)    |                           581 |                       0 |                                   581 |
|       3 | Shimoga - Harihar new line (79 km)    |                           488 |                       0 |                                   488 |
|       4 | Whitefield-Kolar new line (53 km)     |                           337 |                       0 |                                   337 |
|       5 | Hassan-Belur new line (32 km)         |                           206 |                       0 |                                   206 |

Summary of the status of land acquisition in Karnataka is as under:-

| Total Land required for Projects in Karnataka   | 9,020 Ha       |
|-------------------------------------------------|----------------|
| Land Acquired                                   | 5,679 Ha (63%) |
| Balance Land to be acquired                     | 3,341 Ha (37%) |

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

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.

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