Hon. Minister for Railways Shri Ashwini Vaishnav has said that the Indian Railways has undertaken several projects to increase rail connectivity in Karnataka. However, Many projects in Karnataka are being delayed due to slow land acquisition.

In response to a starred question by Shri Ajay Maken in the Rajya Sabha, the minister said that, “To enhance railway connectivity in Karnataka, Indian Railway has taken up several projects. 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, out of which 1,394 Km length has been commissioned and an expenditure of ₹21,310 Crore  has  been  incurred  up to  March’ 2025.”

The summary is as under:

Budget allocation for infrastructure projects and safety works, falling fully/partly in the State of Karnataka is as under:

Duration	Cost
2009-14	₹835 crore/year
2025-26	₹7,564 crore (9 times more)

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

 

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)	4153
2	Toranagallu-Ranjithpura Doubling (23 Km)	147
3	Hotgi-Gadag Doubling (284 Km)	2459
4	Ginigera - Raichur New line (165 Km)	3401
5	Gadag - Wadi New line  (257 Km)	2842
6	Bagalkot - Kudachi New line (142 Km)	1649
7	Tumkur - Rayadurga New line  (207 Km)	2496
8	Tumkur - Davangere New line (182 Km)	2142
9	Chikmagalur - Belur New line  (22 Km)	290
10	Kadur - Chikmagalur New line  (46 Km)	535
11	Baiyyapanahalli - Hosur Doubling (48 Km)	336
12	Yeshwanthpur - Channasandra Doubling (22 Km)	314

The minister said, despite the fact that the Government of India has been progressively allocating record funds for railway projects, many projects in Karnataka are still delayed due to slow pace of land acquisition.

Some of the projects delayed due to land acquisition are given 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)	531	0	531
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(27 km)	206	0	206

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

Total Land required for Projects in Karnataka	8969 Ha
Land Acquired	5657 Ha    (63%)
Balance Land to be acquired	3312Ha  (37%)

Also, Hejjla-Chamrajnagar new line project is sanctioned on Cost sharing basis. However, works on this project could not be taken up as, now, the Govt. of Karnataka has not agreed for this project.

Yeshwanthpur-Channasandra and the Baiyappanahalli - Hosur doubling projects are being executed by Rail Infrastructure Development Company (Karnataka) Limited (K-RIDE) which is a Karnataka State Government controlled company. The progress and completion of Projects depend upon land acquisition, utility shifting, forest clearances, Permission for cutting of trees etc.

The Indian Railways sector is established keeping in mind factors such as size, workload, accessibility, traffic pattern and other operational/administrative requirements. This is in line with the needs of economy and efficiency. The Indian Railways sector is not based on state/district boundaries or regional considerations. There are many states that have more than one zone. The current railway administration system for the coastal region of Karnataka is working satisfactorily, said the Railway Minister.

Mangaluru and Karwar are existing railway stations on the Indian Railway network. For further improving the connectivity to Mangaluru and Karwar, 04 surveys i.e. (i) Shivamogga-Sringeri-Mangaluru new line project (332 Km), (ii) Hassan - Mangaluru doubling project (247 Km), (iii) Shoranur-Mangalore 3rd & 4th Line project (307Km) and (iv) Hubballi - Ankola new double line (163 Km) have been sanctioned.

Railway projects are surveyed/sanctioned/executed Zonal Railway wise and not State-wise/Union Territory wise/District wise as the Railway projects may span across State/Union Territory/District 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, socio-economic considerations etc. depending upon throw forward of ongoing projects and overall availability of funds.

Railway infrastructure projects falling fully/partly in the State of Karnataka are covered under South Western Railway (SWR), Central Railway (CR), Southern Railway (SR) and South Central Railway (SCR) zones of Indian Railways. Zonal Railway wise details of Railway projects including cost, expenditure and outlay are made available in public domain on Indian Railway’s website

The Government of India is ready to implement the projects, however success depends on the cooperation of the Government of Karnataka.

 

*****

 

 

 

(Release ID: 2148657)