By Shishir Prashant 
Prashantnews
The estimated cost of the 170 km long Tanakpur-Bageshwar Rail Line project has reached ₹48,692 crore, Union Railways Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said on Wednesday.
Replying in Lok Sabha to a question of Nainital member Ajay Bhatt regarding the field survey of Tanakpur–Bageshwar New Rail Line, the minister replied that survey has been completed and a detailed Project Report (DPR) has been prepared. According to the DPR, the estimated cost of the project stands at ₹48,692 crore, he said.
The minister further stated that after finalization of the DPR, the sanctioning of the project requires consultations with various stakeholders, including the State Government, and approvals from NITI Aayog and the Ministry of Finance.
Since sanctioning of railway projects is a continuous and dynamic process, exact timelines for implementation cannot be fixed at this stage.
The politicians in Uttarakhand have been demanding from the centre to build the Tanakpur-Bageshwar rail line project since the year 2000 when Uttarakhand was carved out of Uttar Pradesh in the year 2000 by the BJP-led NDA government. They want the Bageshwar-Tanakpur rail line to be declared as national project.
The four hill districts of Kumaon in particular have been dreaming of the Tanakpur-Bageshwar rail line for decades. The British government started the work of building this rail line for the first time in 1882. The first survey for the rail line was done in 1912. Since then, seven surveys have been done.
According to the final survey, a dozen stations are to be built between Tanakpur and Bageshwar in the rail line. These stations are to be built between the 170 km rail line. Not only this, 452 hectares of land is also to be acquired for the rail line, out of which 27 hectares is privat
It was also informed that budget allocation for rail infrastructure in Uttarakhand has increased nearly 25 times—from ₹187 crore per year (2009–14) to ₹4,641 crore in 2025–26.
As on April 1, 2025, three new lines of 216 km costing ₹40,384 crore have been sanctioned in the state.
As per Railway Ministry, Deoband–Roorkee new line project (27 km) has been completed, reducing the Delhi–Dehradun distance by about 40 km.
Also the much hyped Rishikesh–Karnaprayag rail line (125 km), a key project passing through the Himalayan terrain of Uttarakhand, is progressing steadily. Of the planned 16 main line tunnels and 12 escape tunnels, 13 and 9 respectively have been completed, along with all 8 Adits.
Under Amrit Bharat Stations Scheme 11 stations in Uttarakhand have been identified for development namely Dehradun, Haridwar Jn., Harrawala, Kashipur Jn., Kathgodam, Kichha, Kotdwar, Lal Kuan Jn., Ramnagar, Roorkee, Tanakpur.
On safety infrastructure, 106 Road Over Bridges (ROBs) and Road Under Bridges (RUBs) were constructed in Uttarakhand between 2014–25. As on 01 April 2025, nine additional ROBs/RUBs costing ₹158 crore have been sanctioned in the state and are at various stages of planning and execution.