The Ministry of Railways has ordered a fresh technical review of the Lalitpur-Singrauli rail line alignment through the Panna forest area, after concerns emerged over the impact of the route on trees along the project corridor.
In a statement on Wednesday, 27 May, the ministry said the Lalitpur-Singrauli rail line is an important rail connectivity project linking the Bundelkhand and Vindhya regions.
The project connects backward areas of Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh with the rail network and links the eastern part of Madhya Pradesh with the main Jhansi-Bhopal railway line.
The ministry said the Singrauli-Lalitpur railway line passes through the forests of Panna.
It added that Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw took note of reports related to the alignment through the Panna forest area.
According to the ministry, drone photographs and topo sheets of the alignment were studied after the issue came to the minister’s notice.
The team has been instructed to call technical experts and carry out another study of railway line construction along the current alignment so that trees can be saved.
The ministry also said instructions have been issued to plant more than double the number of trees affected in the area before the upcoming monsoon.
The directions come at a sensitive stage for the long-pending railway project, which has both connectivity and environmental significance.
The corridor is expected to improve access for districts and towns across Bundelkhand, Baghelkhand and the coal-bearing Singrauli region, while also requiring careful handling in forested stretches around Panna.
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The Lalitpur-Satna-Rewa-Singrauli new line project has a total length of 541 Km. According to a Lok Sabha reply by the Ministry of Railways in March 2026, the project is being executed at a cost of ₹8,914 crore. The ministry had said ₹5,252 crore had been spent up to March 2025 and ₹1,713 crore had been provided for 2025-26.
According to the ministry’s Lok Sabha reply, 301 Km of the 541-Km project had already been commissioned.
This includes the 229-Km Lalitpur-Khajuraho-Mahoba section, along with 30 Km of the 74-Km Satna-Panna stretch between Nagod and Satna.
Work on the remaining Satna-Panna section has also been taken up.
On the Khajuraho-Panna section, the ministry had said land acquisition and construction activities were under way.
It had stated that 77 hectares out of 91 hectares of government land and 264 hectares out of 301 hectares of private land had been acquired, while acquisition of the remaining land, including 259 hectares of forest land, had been taken up.
The project also includes the Rewa-Sidhi and Sidhi-Singrauli stretches.
In the Rewa-Sidhi section, 42 Km out of 87 Km between Rewa and Rampur Naikin had been commissioned as of the March 2026 parliamentary reply.
The ministry had also said all 4 tunnels and all 6 station buildings on that section had been completed.
The ministry’s directions now place the Panna forest stretch back under technical review. The next assessment will examine the current alignment with experts before further construction decisions are taken on the affected section.
The project remains important for rail connectivity between Bundelkhand, Vindhya and the Singrauli region. Its forest stretch, however, will now be reviewed again with tree protection as a stated priority.
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