Major Rail Infrastructure Push for North East Region with 12 New Projects of Total Length of 777 Km, Costing Over ₹69,000 Crores
Major Rail Infrastructure Push for North East Region with 12 New Projects of Total Length of 777 Km, Costing Over ₹69,000 Crores
To augment and increase line capacity of rail network situated in North East Region, 12 Railway projects (08 New Lines, 04 Doubling), of total length of 777 Km, costing ₹69,342 crore falling fully/partly in North Eastern Region (NER) have been sanctioned, out of which 278 Km length has been commissioned and an expenditure of ₹41,676 crore has been incurred upto March, 2025.
The status of work is summarized as under:-
Category
No. of projects
Total Length
(in Km)
Length Commissioned (in Km)
Expenditure upto March, 2024 (₹ in Cr.)
New Lines
08
448
113
38,078
Doubling
04
329
165
3,698
Total
12
777
278
41,676
Average Budget allocation for Infrastructure projects and other 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)
Commissioning of sections (New Line, Gauge Conversion and Doubling) falling fully/partly in North Eastern Region (NER) during 2009-14 and 2014-2025 is as under:-
Period
New track Commissioned
Average commissioning of new tracks
2009-14
333 Km
66.6 Km/year
2014-25
1,840 Km
167.27 Km/year (about 3 times)
Projects commissioned falling fully/partly in North East Region since 2014, are as under:
SN
Project
Cost
(₹ in crore)
1
Bogibeel Bridge (92 Km.)
5820
2
Agartala-Sabroom (112 Km.) New Line
3170
3
Agartala-Akaura (5 Km) New Line
865
4
Rangiya-Murkongselek (510 Km) Gauge Conversion
3019
5
Kumarghat-Agartala (109 Km) Gauge Conversion
1242
6
Katakhal–Bharabi (84 Km) Gauge Conversion
348
7
Lumding-Badarpur- Silchar & Badarpur- Kumarghat (412 Km) Gauge Conversion
673
8
Lumding-Hojai (45 Km) Doubling
410
9
Digaru-Hojai (102 Km) Doubling
1873
10
New Bongaigaon-Agthori (143 Km.) Doubling
2048
Some of the main projects falling fully/partly in the North East Region which have been taken up are as under:-
SN
Name of the project
Cost
(₹ In crore)
1
Jiribam-Imphal (111 Km) New Line
18562
2
Dimapur-Kohima (82 Km) New Line
6911
3
Bhairabi-Sairang (51 Km) New Line
5521
4
Murkongselek-Pasighat (27 Km) New Line
980
5
New Bongaigaon-Goalpara-Guwahati (Kamakhaya) (176 Km) Doubling
2950
6
Saraighat Bridge (7 Km) Doubling
1478
7
Aluabari-Thakurganj (20 km) Doublng
327
8
Aluabari-New Jalpaiguri (57 km)3rd & 4th Line
1786
Further, during the last three years i.e. FY 2022-23, 2023-24, 2024-25 and the current FY, 17 surveys (13 New Line, and 4 Doubling) of total length 1790 Km. falling fully/ partly in the North East Region have been sanctioned under PM Gati Shakti NMP. Some important surveys are as below:
SN
Name of Project
Length in Kilometer
1
Zubza-Imphal New Line
150
2
Lanka – Silchar via Chandranathpur New Line
208
3
Sairang-Hbichhuah (Mizoram) New Line
223
4
Agthori-Dekargaon New Line
130
5
Tejpur-Silghat New Line
40
6
Chandranathpur-Agartala Doubling
244
7
Guwahati-Lumding 3rd line
181
8
New Jalpaiguri-Kamakhya 3rd & 4th Line
421
9
Katihar- Aluabari 3rd & 4th Line
145
After firming up 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.
Similarly, to augment and increase line capacity of rail network situated in North Eastern Railway, as on 01.04.2025, total 17 Railway infrastructure projects (08 New Line, 01 Gauge Conversion and 08 Doubling), of total length of 1,253 km, costing `20,466 crore on North Eastern Railway are sanctioned, out of which 354 km length has been commissioned and an expenditure of `10,486 crore has been incurred upto March 2025. The summary is as under:
Category
No. of sanctioned projects
Total length
(Km)
Length commissioned
till Mar’25 (Km)
Total expenditure upto March 2025 (Cr.)
New Line
8
656
48
4042
Gauge Conversion
1
56
0
260
Doubling /Multitracking
8
541
306
6184
Total
17
1253
354
10486
Details of some of the recently completed projects on North Eastern Railway are as under:
SN
Name of Project
Latest Cost (Cr.)
1
Ghazipur city-Tarighat new line (17 Km)
1766
2
Indara-Dohrighat gauge conversion (34 Km)
213
3
Lucknow-Pilibhit gauge conversion (263 Km)
1634
4
Ballia-Gazipur city doubling (65 Km)
650
5
Aunrihar-Jaunpur doubling (60 Km)
405
6
Malhaur-Daliganj doubling (13 Km)
183
7
Rosa-Sitapur Cantt-Burhwal doubling (181 Km)
2094
8
Varanasi-Madhosingh-Allahabad doubling (120 Km)
2018
9
Aishbagh-Manaknagar doubling (4 Km)
82
Some of the main projects on North Eastern Railway, which have been taken up, are as under:
SN
Name of Project
Cost (Cr.)
1
Anandnagar – Ghughuli via Maharajganj new line (53 Km)
958
2
Etah – Kasganj new line (29 Km)
389
3
Gorakhpur Cantt – Valmiki Nagar Doubling (96 Km)
1121
4
Barabanki-Burhwal 3rd line (27 Km)
426
5
Mankapur-Tikri doubling (28 Km)
280
Total 46 surveys (5 New Line, 2 Gauge Conversion and 39 Doubling), of total length of 1878 Km on North Eastern Railway, have been sanctioned during the last three years (2022-2023, 2023-2024, 2024-2025) and current financial year.
Completion of Railway project/s depends on various factors like quick land acquisition by State Government, forest clearance by officials of forest department, shifting of infringing utilities, statutory clearances from various authorities, geological and topographical conditions of area, law and order situation in the area of project/s 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.
This information was provided by the Union Minister for Railways, Information & Broadcasting and Electronics & Information Technology, Shri Ashwini Vaishnaw, in a written reply to a question in Lok Sabha today.