Eastern Railway (ER) has published the official Gazette Notification for acquiring land for Chandanpur-Saktigarh 4th line on June 04, 2026. The notification has been published under Section 20A of the Railways Act, 1989.
The 42.66-km fourth line project is being built at an estimated cost of ₹851.74 crore. The new line will run alongside the existing lines.This project was sanctioned by Indian Railways (IR) on March 06, 2025.
Need for quadrupling
The Chandanpur-Saktigarh section on the Howrah–Bardhaman chord line is operating at 113 per cent of its capacity, handling traffic of 83 passenger trains and 32 goods trains each day. This detains 25 goods trains for about 60 minutes each way affecting punctuality across the entire regional rail network.
Land Acquisition
ER has to acquire approximately 4.38 hectares of private land in Hooghly and Purba Bardhaman districts. This is being executed in close coordination with the Government of West Bengal, which has appointed the Additional District Magistrate (LA) of Purba Bardhaman as the Competent Authority for Land Acquisition, or CALA.
Following this newly issued Section 20A notification, the statutory process for public objections and claims will immediately commence, which will then be followed by the Section 20D notification and the final Section 20E notification for official land vesting.
Tendering process
Meanwhile, advanced track-signalling, station layouts, blueprints for 95 smaller bridges and eight major bridges are receiving digital safety approvals, while structural engineering tenders are actively rolling out.
The Engineering, Procurement, and Construction, or EPC, tender for the Chandanpur–Palla Road section has already been invited, and the remaining Palla Road–Saktigarh tender will follow once land acquisition is completed.
Benefit
On completion of the 4th line, the section will be able to handle 91 passenger and 37 goods trains each day and will still be operating at 94 per cent of its capacity.
This capacity expansion will facilitate movement coal, fertilizer and cement from the ports of Paradeep, Haldia, and Dhamra besides future traffic from the upcoming Gatishakti Cargo Terminal at Janai Road.
The fourth line will benefit the people of Porabazar, Belmuri, Dhaniakhali, Sibaichandi, Cheragram, Hajigarh, Gurap, Jhapandanga, Jaugram, Nabagram, Masagram, Chanchai, and Palla Road.
