The Ministry of Railways has sanctioned the construction of the 278 km Kharsia–Naya Raipur–Parmalkasa new dual railway line at an estimated cost of ₹7,854 crore in April 2025. The ambitious infrastructure project is designed to provide seamless freight and passenger connectivity while directly bypassing the heavily congested Bilaspur, Raipur, and Durg nodes. The details were shared by Union Minister of Railways, Communications, and Electronics & Information Technology, Shri Ashwini Vaishnaw, in a written reply to the Rajya Sabha today.

The alignment cross eight major districts across Chhattisgarh and is strategically engineered to link key industrial and mineral hubs. A primary focus of the corridor is connecting Baloda Bazar district. Additionally, the route serves as a direct bypass from Kharsia, which functions as the primary rail gateway to the Mahanadi Coalfields Limited (MCL) coal belt, facilitating faster movement of raw materials across the region.

To ensure swift execution, the project has been officially notified as a "Special Railway Project," covering an estimated land requirement of 1,852 hectares. The appointment of a Competent Authority for Land Acquisition (CALA) has already been finalized, and land acquisition procedures are actively underway across the designated corridor.

The annual budget for the outlay for railway safety and infrastructure projects reached approximately ₹7,470 crore for FY 2026–27. This represents a nearly 24-fold increase compared to the average annual allocation of ₹311 crore made between 2009 and 2014.

Between 2014 and 2026, a total of 1,311 kilometers of new track was commissioned in the state at an average rate of 109.29 km per year—a more than 17-fold jump from the 6.4 km per year average recorded during the 2009–2014 period.

As of April 1, 2026, Chhattisgarh has 36 sanctioned rail projects spanning a total length of 2,398 km with an aggregate investment of ₹48,202 crore. These projects include 8 new line projects covering 887 km and 28 doubling projects covering 1,512 km. Cumulative expenditure on these works has already crossed ₹18,833 crore, resulting in 1,151 km of commissioned line so far.

Several landmark projects have been completed recently to strengthen regional movement, including the 152 km Champa–Jharsuguda 3rd line (₹1,227 crore), the 203 km Raipur–Titlagarh doubling (₹1,171 crore), and the 95 km Dalli Rajhara–Rowghat line (₹1,628 crore). Major ongoing projects—such as the Gevra Road–Pendra Road new line, Kharsia–Dharamjaygarh new line, and Rajnandgaon–Nagpur 3rd line—are further expanding capacity across key economic zones.

The Ministry noted that the final timeline for completing railway works depends on several external variables, including the speed of land acquisition, statutory forest clearances, shifting of utilities, regional geological conditions, and local law and order situations.
 

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