Lok Sabha Question No. 3153 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2026-03-11
Subject: Balurghat–Hilli and Kaliyaganj–Buniadpur New Railway Line
Ministry: RAILWAYS
Asked by: Shri Kartick Chandra Paul

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## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA

## MINISTRY OF RAILWAYS

## LOK SABHA

## UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 3153

## TO BE ANSWERED ON 11.03.2026

## BALURGHAT HILLI AND KALIYAGANJ BUNIADPUR NEW RAILWAY LINE

## 3153. SHRI KARTICK CHANDRA PAUL:

Will the Minister of RAILWAYS be pleased to state:

- (a)  the  present  status  of  work  on  the  Balurghat-Hilli  and  KaliyaganjBuniadpur new line projects in West Bengal;
- (b)  whether land acquisition and  forest clearance for these projects have been completed and if so, the details thereof;
- (c) the year-wise expenditure incurred on these two projects till date;
- (d)  the  expected  timeline  for  completion  and  commissioning  of  these projects; and
- (e) the details of the steps being taken to expedite work considering their importance for border and regional connectivity?

## ANSWER

MINISTER OF RAILWAYS, INFORMATION & BROADCASTING AND

## ELECTRONICS & INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY (SHRI ASHWINI VAISHNAW)

(a)  to  (e):  The  work  of  New  Railway  line  between  Balurghat  and  Hilli  (30 Km) was sanctioned in 2010-11. However, the project  could not be taken forward  and  was  kept  on  hold  due  to  non  acquisition  of  land  by  State Government  of  West  Bengal.  Subsequently,  keeping  in  view  the  public demand it was decided to take the project forward in 2022. The latest cost of  the  project  is  ₹1,209  crore.  An  expenditure  of  ₹405  crore  has  been incurred  upto  to  March,  2025  with  an  outlay  of  ₹187  crore  for  the  year 2025-26. Land acquisition has been completed and work has been taken up.

The  work  of  Kaliaganj-Buniadpur  New  Line  was  sanctioned  in  2010-11. However, the project could not be taken forward and was kept on hold due to non-acquisition of land by State Government of West Bengal, Subsequently, keeping  in  view  the  public  demand  it  was  decided  to  take the project forward in 2024. The latest cost of the project is ₹1,147 crore with an expenditure of 38 crore upto March, 2025 and outlay of ₹128 crore for the year 2025-26. A total of 168 Ha. Land to be acquired for the project and Land acquisition work has been taken up.

## West Bengal:

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

| Period   | Outlay                          |
|----------|---------------------------------|
| 2009-14  | ₹4,380 Cr./year                 |
| 2025-26  | ₹13,955 Cr. (More than 3 times) |

As on 01.04.2025, 42 projects (12 New Lines, 04 Gauge Conversions and 26 Doubling),  of  total  length  of  4402  Km,  costing  ₹67,991  crore  falling fully/partly in the State of West Bengal have been sanctioned. The summary is as under:

| Category         |   No. of projects | Total Length (in Km)   |   Length Commissioned till March, 2025 (in Km) | Total Exp. upto March, 2025 (₹ in Cr.)   |
|------------------|-------------------|------------------------|------------------------------------------------|------------------------------------------|
| New Lines        |                12 | 1,032                  |                                            337 | 11,368                                   |
| Gauge Conversion |                 4 | 1,201                  |                                            854 | 3,673                                    |

| Doubling/Multi- tracking   |   26 | 2,169   | 511   | 8,370   |
|----------------------------|------|---------|-------|---------|
| Total                      |   42 | 4,402   | 1,702 | 23,410  |

Zonal Railway wise details of Railway projects are made available in public domain on Indian Railway's website.

## Details of some of the recently completed projects falling fully/partly in the State of West Bengal are as under:

|   S. No. | Project                                                                | Cost (₹ in Cr.)   |
|----------|------------------------------------------------------------------------|-------------------|
|        1 | Rampurhat-Mandarhill new line and Rampurhat- Murarai 3rd line (159 Km) | 1,500             |
|        2 | Azimganj-Murshidabad new line (7 Km)                                   | 164               |
|        3 | Bardhaman-Katwa Gauge Conversion (52 Km)                               | 696               |
|        4 | Ahmedpur-Katwa Gauge Conversion (52 Km)                                | 440               |
|        5 | Panskura Kharagpur Doubling (45 Km)                                    | 408               |
|        6 | Lalgola - Jiaganj Doubling (23 Km)                                     | 124               |
|        7 | Krishnanagar-Bethuadahari Doubling (28 Km)                             | 152               |
|        8 | Nabadwipdham-Patuli Doubling (22 Km)                                   | 170               |
|        9 | Bethuadhahari-Plassey Doubling (23 km)                                 | 132               |
|       10 | Ambikakalna-Nabadwipdham Doubling (23 km)                              | 145               |
|       11 | Nalhati-Sagardighi Doubling (26 km)                                    | 193               |
|       12 | Tamluk Jn.- Basulya Sutahata Doubling (24 km)                          | 245               |
|       13 | Plassey- Jiaganj Doubling (54 km)                                      | 234               |
|       14 | Azimganj-Manigram Doubling (21 km)                                     | 150               |

Contd….4/-

|   15 | New Coochbehar-Gumanihat Doubling (29 km)      |   330 |
|------|------------------------------------------------|-------|
|   16 | New Coochbehar-Samuktala Road Doubling (29 km) |   445 |
|   17 | Sainthia-Tarapith 3rd line (22 Km)             |   186 |
|   18 | Ambari Falakata-New Maynaguri Doubling (37 km) |   843 |
|   19 | Bandel-Boinchi - 3rd line (31 km)              |   546 |
|   20 | Boinchi-Shaktigarh 3rd line (26 km)            |   424 |
|   21 | Bazar Sau-Azimganj Jn. Doubling (42 km)        |   343 |
|   22 | Sagardighi- Malda Town Doubling (25 Km)        |   248 |
|   23 | Kharagpur-Narayangarh 3rd line (24 km)         |   270 |
|   24 | Monigram-Nimtita Doubling (24 Km)              |   713 |
|   25 | Purulia-Kotshila Doubling (36 Km)              |   393 |

## Some of the projects falling fully/partly in the State of West Bengal which have been taken up are as under:

|   SN. | Project                                               | Cost (₹ in Cr.)   |
|-------|-------------------------------------------------------|-------------------|
|     1 | Chandil-Purulia-Anara-Damodar 3rd Line(121 Km)        | 1,932             |
|     2 | Tarakeshwar-Bishnupur New Line (83 Km)                | 1,542             |
|     3 | Sivok-Rangpo New Line (44 Km)                         | 11,973            |
|     4 | Balurghat-Hilli New Line (30 Km)                      | 1,209             |
|     5 | Kaliyaganj-Buniadpur New Line (33 Km)                 | 1,147             |
|     6 | Katihar-Kumedpur and Katihar-Mukuria Doubling (65 Km) | 943               |
|     7 | Kharagpur-Adityapur 3rd line (132 Km)                 | 3,250             |
|     8 | Narayangarh-Bhadrak 3rd line (153 Km)                 | 2,136             |

|   9 | Kalipahari-Bakhtarnagar 5th Line (18Km)             | 350   |
|-----|-----------------------------------------------------|-------|
|  10 | Dankuni-Baltikuri 3rd & 4th line (18 Km)            | 429   |
|  11 | Murarai-Barharwa 3rd Line (49 Km)                   | 935   |
|  12 | Ranaghat-Krishnanagar City 3rd Line (26 Km)         | 446   |
|  13 | Aluabari Road-New Jalpaiguri 3rd & 4th Line (57 Km) | 1,630 |

Execution  of  important  infrastructure  projects  falling  fully/partly  in  the State of West Bengal are held up due to delay in land acquisition. Status of land acquisition in West Bengal is as under:

| Total Land required         | 4,662 Ha       |
|-----------------------------|----------------|
| Land Acquired               | 1,273 Ha (27%) |
| Balance Land to be acquired | 3,389 Ha (73%) |

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

State

|   SN | Name of the project                 |   Total land required (in Ha) |   Land acquired (in Ha) |   Balance Land to be acquired (in Ha) |   Amount Paid to State (in Cr.) |
|------|-------------------------------------|-------------------------------|-------------------------|---------------------------------------|---------------------------------|
|    1 | Chandil-Anara- Burnpur - 3rd line   |                             8 |                       0 |                                     8 |                             0   |
|    2 | Nabadwipghat- Nabadwipdham new line |                           107 |                       0 |                                   107 |                            50   |
|    3 | Byepass at Sainthia                 |                            22 |                       0 |                                    22 |                             0   |
|    4 | Naihati - Ranaghat 3rd line         |                            13 |                       0 |                                    13 |                             1.3 |

Contd….6/-

|   5. | Sivok-Rangpo new line                             |   135 |   128 |   7 |   7.98 |
|------|---------------------------------------------------|-------|-------|-----|--------|
|    6 | Kaliyaganj-Buniadpur new line                     |   168 |     0 | 168 |      0 |
|    7 | Canning- Bagankhali new line                      |    18 |     0 |  18 |      0 |
|    8 | Adra- Sanka- Rukni doubling                       |     5 |     0 |   5 |      0 |
|    9 | Kalipahari-Bakhtarnagar 5th line                  |    15 |     0 |  15 |      0 |
|   10 | Rail Flyover at Anara from Rukni to Anara station |    35 |     0 |  35 |      0 |
|   11 | Rail Flyover at Gourinathdham end to Purulia      |    34 |     0 |  34 |      0 |
|   12 | Chandanpur Shaktigarh 4th Line                    |     5 |     0 |   5 |      0 |

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.

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.

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