Lok Sabha Question No. 329 (STARRED), answered on 2017-08-09
Subject: Pending Railway Projects
Ministry: RAILWAYS
Asked by: T.G. VENKATESH BABU

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF RAILWAYS

## LOK SABHA STARRED QUESTION NO. 329 TO BE ANSWERED ON 09.08.2017

## PENDING RAILWAY PROJECTS

* 329. SHRI VENKATESH BABU T.G.:

Will the Minister of RAILWAYS be pleased to state:

- (a) whether  a  number  of  railway  projects  announced  many decades ago stand allocated a mere Rs. 1,000 a year to keep them alive;
- (b) if  so,  the  details  thereof,  zone/  division-wise  along  with  the year of announcement of each of these projects;
- (c) whether the Railways has reviewed all these projects particularly the projects pertaining to Tamil Nadu;
- (d) if so, the details thereof; and
- (e) the  time  by  which  the  identified  projects  are  likely  to  be taken up and the expected time of completion thereof?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF RAILWAYS

(SHRI SURESH PRABHAKAR PRABHU)

- (a) to (e):   A Statement is laid on the Table of the House.

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STATEMENT REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO PARTS (a) TO (e) OF STARRED QUESTION NO. 329 BY SHRI VENKATESH BABU T.G. TO BE ANSWERED IN LOK SABHA ON 09.08.2017 REGARDING PENDING RAILWAY PROJECTS

(a) to (e):   There is only one railway project of New Line between KichhaKhatima (57.7 km) falling in the State of  Uttarakhand in the jurisdiction of North Eastern Railway which is more than a decade old and for which an allocation of ` 1000 has been made in the Budget 2017-18.

This project was sanctioned in 2003-04 with the proviso that the land will be  provided  by  the  State  Government  free  of  cost.    Later  on,  the  State Government  of  Uttarakhand  expressed  their  inability  to  bear  full  cost  of land which was anticipated to be ` 240 Crore.

There is no Railway Project in Tamil Nadu which is more than a decade old with allocation of ` 1000/-.

Project monitoring and removing impediments for their expeditious completion is a continuous exercise. All sanctioned projects are reviewed periodically, both at Ministry and Zonal Railway level.  To strengthen the coordination  mechanism,  Nodal  Officers  have  also  been  nominated  from Zonal  Railways  for  each  State  with  a  defined  role  of  identifying  the projects,  requiring  coordination  with  State  Government  and  arranging meetings of Railway Officials with the State Government.

Indian Railways has taken various steps to increase pace of execution of projects:-

(i)   Making higher fund allotment for projects:  The capital expenditure for Railways  has  been  increased  from ` 58,718  Crore  in  2014-15  to  around

` 93,795 Crore in 2015-16 to ` 1,11,661 Crore in 2016-17 and a plan size of ` 1,31,000 Crore has been kept for 2017-18.

(ii)      Delegation of Powers to the field officers for tenders and estimates: The Zonal Railways have been delegated full powers with respect to works contracts.    Full  powers  have  been  given  to  General  Managers  of  Zonal Railways with respect to sanction of estimates.  This has also resulted in cutting down time for sanction of estimate and tenders.

(iii)    Institutional  financing:    By  tying  up  loan  with  M/s  Life  Insurance Corporation  of  India  Limited  for ` 1.5  Lakh  Crore  for  assured  funding  of viable  projects  has  increased  Railways'  capacity  for  committed  fund provision for essential projects.

(iv)    Coordination  with  State/Central  Ministries:    To  expedite  the  project execution  and  better  coordination  with  State/Central  Ministries,  regular coordination  meetings  are  being  held  with  Ministries/Departments/State Government Authorities.  A senior Railway Officer has been nominated as a Nodal Officer to deal with each State Government.

These initiatives have resulted into a remarkable increase in commissioning of New  Lines, Gauge  Conversions and Doublings. A progress of 7.75 Km per day of network expansion was achieved in 201516 compared to an average of 4.1 Km per day being achieved in previous 10  years  from  2004  to  2014.    During  2016-17,  2855  Km  track  has  been commissioned by introducing passenger services.

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