The Rishikesh-Karnaprayag rail line project in Uttarakhand has achieved 74% overall progress, with around 96% of tunnel excavation completed, Rail Vikas Nigam Limited (RVNL) said in its Q4 FY26 earnings conference call.
The 125 km rail project is being developed at a cost of over ₹37,000 crore and is targeted for completion by December 2029, RVNL Chairman and Managing Director Saleem Ahmad said during the investor call held on 26 May.
Ahmad described the project as one of national importance in Uttarakhand and said it will improve access to the Himalayan region.
“The 125-kilometer project has achieved 74% overall progress, with around 96% tunnel excavation complete. Target for completion by December 2029, the project will improve access to the Himalayan region,” Ahmad said.
This marks a revision from RVNL’s earlier timeline shared during its Q3 FY26 earnings conference call on 6 February 2026, when the company had said that work on the Rishikesh-Karnaprayag project was going on “full swing” and the target was to complete the project by December 2028.
“Another important project is Rishikesh-Karnaprayag, where work is going on full swing, and our target which is to achieve the completion of the project in December 2028. And we are progressing very well in that project also,” Ahmad had said in the February earnings call.
The rail corridor is among the most complex railway projects in the country because of the Himalayan terrain and extensive tunnelling required along the route.
As per earlier project data, the Rishikesh-Karnaprayag new broad-gauge rail line has seen expenditure of ₹28,286.15 crore till April 2026 against an original project cost of ₹38,953 crore.
The corridor is designed to provide all-weather rail connectivity to the Garhwal Himalayas and strengthen access to strategically important border regions.
The project involves construction of 16 main line tunnels with a combined length of 104 km and 12 escape tunnels of about 98 km.
Of this, main line tunnels of 99 km and nine escape tunnels of more than 94 km had been completed as per earlier official data.
Once completed, the rail line will provide direct connectivity from Rishikesh to important towns in Uttarakhand, including Devprayag, Srinagar, Rudraprayag and Karnaprayag.
The project is expected to cut travel time, improve passenger movement and provide more reliable access to pilgrimage centres and important locations in the Garhwal region.
RVNL also said it is using technology tools to improve execution across projects, including drone-based site inspection, digital dashboards and systems to track physical progress, financial progress and planned progress against actual progress.
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