Varanasi–Kolkata Expressway
Varanasi–Kolkata Expressway
Also known as NH 319B and Varanasi–Ranchi–Kolkata Expressway
610 km
Being built
4 states
Expressway
Route
Varanasi–Kolkata Expressway runs 610 km from Varanasi Ring Road, Uttar Pradesh to Uluberia, near Kolkata, West Bengal.
Crosses Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand and West Bengal.
Through Varanasi, Sasaram, Aurangabad, Hazaribagh, Ramgarh, Bokaro, Purulia, Bankura and Uluberia.
Why it matters
The Varanasi–Kolkata road is one of the busiest freight routes in eastern India, but today it runs on the crowded old Grand Trunk Road through town after town. A separate access-controlled expressway would let coal, steel and container traffic move between the eastern ports and the Gangetic plain without stopping at every level crossing and market. It also links two of India's most-visited cities — the temple town of Varanasi and Kolkata — and puts the long-neglected districts of southern Bihar and Jharkhand on a fast road for the first time.
History
This expressway is being built on a completely new path from the Varanasi Ring Road to the edge of Kolkata, crossing four states. Today the same journey on the old Grand Trunk Road route can take 12 hours or more; the expressway is expected to cut that roughly in half. It was taken up under the Bharatmala programme and numbered NH 319B, with construction packages awarded from 2023 onward. Work is well under way in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, and has started in Jharkhand, where forest clearances around Hazaribagh and Ramgarh held things up for months. The West Bengal stretch is the slowest of the lot — it is also the longest single state's share, at roughly 240 km — and land acquisition there is still incomplete in several districts. Because of all this the original target has slipped, and the road is now expected to be finished towards the end of the 2020s.
Good to know
- About 610 km long, crossing Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand and West Bengal.
- A greenfield expressway that runs south of the old Grand Trunk Road (NH 19) route.
- Part of the Bharatmala highway-building programme.
- Expected to cut Varanasi–Kolkata travel time roughly in half, to about 6–7 hours.
- Ends on NH 16 near Uluberia, on the outskirts of Kolkata.
- Numbered NH 319B, and also called the Varanasi–Ranchi–Kolkata Expressway.
- West Bengal has the longest share of the route, and it has been the slowest section to get moving.
- Once open it will give the steel and coal towns of Jharkhand — Bokaro, Ramgarh, Hazaribagh — their first access-controlled road.
Timeline
- 2023Construction packages awarded under the Bharatmala programme
- 2024Construction begins on the Uttar Pradesh and Bihar sections
- 2028Targeted completion
Key junctions
- Varanasi Ring Road — the western end, where the expressway picks up traffic from Varanasi and NH 19
- Sasaram / Aurangabad (Bihar) — the stretch serving the old Grand Trunk Road towns of southern Bihar
- Uluberia (West Bengal) — the eastern end on NH 16, just outside Kolkata
On the road
It is not open yet, so the drive still has to be made on NH 19, the old Grand Trunk Road, which takes 12 hours or more with heavy truck traffic and many towns on the way. When the expressway opens NHAI expects the same trip to take about 6–7 hours.
More details
- Lanes
- 4–6 lanes, access-controlled (greenfield)
- Project cost
- ₹35,000 crore (approx.)