Two New Rail Sections Opened on 24 October 2026, 53 km from Satna to Devendranagar and 65 km from Rewa to Churhat in Sidhi District, With a 3.33 km Tunnel

On Saturday, 24 October 2026, two finished sections of new railway line opened in eastern Madhya Pradesh: 53 km from Satna to Devendranagar and 65 km from Rewa to Churhat, 118 km together. The Union Railway Minister and the state’s Chief Minister inaugurated them, and a new passenger train between Devendranagar and Churhat was flagged off the same day, according to News On AIR, the public broadcaster’s news service.

Both sections belong to the Lalitpur-Singrauli project, a 541 km new line across Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh. Churhat is in Sidhi district, and the Rewa to Churhat section is what carries trains there.

What opened, and what it cost

The two sections are the Satna to Devendranagar line (53 km) and the Rewa to Churhat line (65 km). Swarajya, Maritime Gateway and Raillynews give the costs as about ₹873 crore for the first and about ₹1,070 crore for the second, which is roughly ₹1,943 crore in all. (A crore is ten million rupees.) News On AIR gives rounder figures, “over ₹800 crore” and “over ₹1,000 crore”, which agree with those numbers. None of these reports cites a Ministry of Railways document for the exact costs, so they are reported figures.

The Chief Minister said the whole project will improve rail links across seven districts: Lalitpur, Chhatarpur, Panna, Satna, Rewa, Sidhi and Singrauli. Events were held at Nagod and Churhat stations, and the Railway Minister took part by video from New Delhi, per Swarajya.

The last stretches that finished each line

Each section was declared complete when its final piece of track was done. On the Rewa to Churhat section that was 22.5 km between Rampur Naikin and Churhat. On the Satna to Devendranagar section it was 8 km between Phulwari and Devendranagar. Swarajya, Maritime Gateway and Kashmir Despatch all report these two lengths in the same words.

Through the hills to Churhat

The Rewa to Churhat route crosses hilly ground, and the reports list bridges and a 3.33 km tunnel among its main works (Raillynews, Maritime Gateway and Swarajya’s pre-opening report). None of them names the tunnel.

A 2021 report in The Hitavada describes a 3,338 metre single-line broad-gauge tunnel on the Rewa to Sidhi section, between Govindgarh and Bagwar stations, cutting through the Chuhiya Ghati hills on the Rewa and Sidhi district border. West Central Railway was building it, with technical help from the Maulana Azad National Institute of Technology in Bhopal, and work began from both ends at once. The length matches the 3.33 km in the 2026 reports, but no report says they are the same tunnel.

The train on the new track

The new service is a Devendranagar to Churhat passenger train, with the return trip, flagged off from Nagod and Churhat stations, according to the IANS wire report. Swarajya says it links Devendranagar and Churhat through Satna and Rewa. The reports give no train number, timings or frequency, so those are left out here.

The News On AIR report on the day gives the Railway Minister’s line on what the new connection means: a new lifeline for the Vindhya and Bundelkhand regions. Kashmir Despatch quotes him in the same terms. He also said more than 100 long-distance trains and 50 to 60 short-distance services, including MEMU and intercity trains, could run in Madhya Pradesh in coming years as ongoing projects finish. MEMU trains are short-haul electric trains for local travel.

What the Ministry expects the line to carry

For people in Sidhi district, the IANS report says the Rewa to Churhat section improves rail access to Rewa, the regional centre for education, healthcare, trade and transport. The Chief Minister said it would also help farmers reach markets.

The Ministry of Railways expects the sections to support freight for cement and mineral industries, give farmers and rural traders better market access, and bring more visitors to Panna, Khajuraho and Rewa, Swarajya reports. Maritime Gateway names cement, clinker and limestone as likely freight, and gives no figure for extra volume. The sections are also expected to ease road freight, per Swarajya. Travellers to Khajuraho will find the town’s rail links described in the Khajuraho travel guide, and the state’s wider profile is in Madhya Pradesh at a glance.

The wider programme

The Railway Minister said railway projects worth about ₹1 lakh crore are under way in Madhya Pradesh, covering new lines, doubling of track, third and fourth lines and gauge conversion, per News On AIR and Swarajya. Other reports give different totals. Swarajya’s pre-opening report cites about ₹1.18 lakh crore under implementation and a ₹15,188 crore railway allocation for the state in 2026-27, and the IANS report quotes the Chief Minister on about ₹1.15 lakh crore sanctioned. The three figures count different things, and the reports do not reconcile them.

In his remarks the Railway Minister also pointed to the Pamban Bridge (see the Pamban Bridge article) and the Srinagar link, which has its own account in the Chenab Bridge piece.

Maritime Gateway notes that the Lalitpur-Singrauli programme is not complete; these two sections are part of it.

A claim this article does not repeat

Several pre-opening and same-day reports, including Swarajya, Indian Masterminds and HelloRail, say the Rewa to Churhat line connects Sidhi district to the railway network for the first time since Independence. None of them credits an official source for it. The Ministry of Railways release was not available to this article, and the News On AIR reports, the IANS wire and the Maritime Gateway report do not make the claim. It is left out as a statement of fact until the Ministry’s own wording can be checked. All details above are as reported by 29 October 2026.