Lok Sabha Question No. 68 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2016-11-16
Subject: Construction of new Railway Lines
Ministry: RAILWAYS
Asked by: DEVUSINH JESINGBHAI CHAUHAN

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF RAILWAYS

## LOK  SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 68

## TO BE ANSWERED ON 16.11.2016

## CONSTRUCTION OF NEW RAILWAY LINES

68.      SHRI DEVUSINH CHAUHAN:

Will the Minister of RAILWAYS be pleased to state:

- (a) whether the Railways has received proposals from the Government  of  Gujarat  for  construction  of  new  railway  lines, gauge conversion of the existing lines and doubling of tracks to cope  with  the  movement  of  goods  from  ports  and  industrial townships to the large hinterland; and
- (b) if so, the action taken so far to implement the sanctioned work, if  any,  and  towards  sanctioning  of  remaining  work,  proposalwise?

## ANSWER

MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF RAILWAYS (SHRI RAJEN GOHAIN)

- (a) & (b): A Statement is laid on the Table of the House.

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STATEMENT  REFERRED  TO  IN  REPLY  TO  PARTS  (a)  &  (b)  OF UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 68 BY SHRI DEVUSINH CHAUHAN TO BE ANSWERED IN LOK SABHA ON 16.11.2016 REGARDING CONSTRUCTION OF NEW RAILWAY LINES (a)  &  (b):  Requests  for  new  lines,  gauge  conversion  and  doubling, both formal as well as informal, are received by Railways at various levels i.e. Railway Board, Zonal Railways and Divisional Headquarters,  etc.  As  receipt  of  such  requests/suggestions  is  a continuous and dynamic process, centralized compendium of such requests is not maintained. However, in recent past Government of Gujarat  has  suggested  certain  works,  the  details  of  which  are appended. Two  new  lines,  eight  gauge  conversion  and  nine  doubling projects  covering  a  length  of  363  km.,  1467  km  and  984  km  and costing ` 3766  crore, ` 6510  crore  and ` 6477  crore  respectively falling  fully/partly  in  the  State  of  Gujarat  have  been  sanctioned which  also  will  help  in  development  of  ports  and  industries.  On these projects, an expenditure of ` 4359.47 crore has been incurred upto March, 2016, with an outlay of ` 3670 crore for the year 201617.  Besides  these  projects,  Bhimnath-Dholera  (28  km)  new  line project  has  also  been  included  in  the  Budget  2016-17  subject  to requisite approvals from the Government. Completion of these projects is dependent upon many factors such as land acquisition, statutory clearances like forestry and wild life clearances,  shifting  of  services,  cutting  of  trees,  construction  of road  over  bridges  and  road  under  bridges  by  road  maintaining agencies, apart from availability of adequate funds. Since many of these  factors  are  beyond  the  control  of  Ministry  of  Railways, timelines  for  completion  of  all  the  projects  are  not  feasible  to  be fixed.

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APPENDIX REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO PARTS (a) & (b) OF UNSTARRED QUESTON NO. 68 BY SHRI DEVUSINH CHAUHAN  TO BE ANSWERED IN LOK  SABHA  ON  16.11.2016  REGARDING  CONSTRUCTION  OF  NEW RAILWAY LINES

(a) &  (b):    Details  and  status  of  works  suggested  by  Government  of Gujarat in the recent past are as under:

|   S.No. | Subject                                                                                            | Status                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   |
|---------|----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
|       1 | Provision of adequate funds for new line between Somnath to Kodinar for development of Chhara Port | Somnath to Kodinar new line has been added to Rajkot - Veraval gauge conversion project as material modification. The main project of gauge conversion has already been completed. An outlay of ` 50 crore has been provided for this project for the year 2016- 17. Land acquisition has been taken up. Tender for major bridges is under finalisation. The allotment of funds for the year 2016-17 is sufficient in present stage of land acquisition for the project. |
|       2 | New Railway line Bhavnagar-Adhelai- Dholera-Vataman- Petland (Survey proposed)                     | Bhavnagar-Adhelai-Dholera-Vataman- Petland: Survey for Bhavnagar to Tarapur New Line via Dholera, has been completed. Cost of this line has been assessed as ` 745 crores with RoR of (-) 1% and Planning Commission has not agreed to the proposal.                                                                                                                                                                                                                     |
|       3 | Dholera-Bhimnath (Survey proposed)                                                                 | The work included in the Budget 2016-17 subject to requisite approvals from the Government.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              |
|       4 | Khambhat to Khambhat Port (Survey proposed)                                                        | Khambhat to Khambhat Port: Survey for this 20 Km line was sanctioned in 2013-14 but Gujarat Maritime Board has informed that Khambhat port will not be developed due to the construction of Kalpsar Dam at location of Khambhat Port.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    |

|    | Gauge Conversion                                                         |                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   |
|----|--------------------------------------------------------------------------|---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| 1. | Gauge conversion of existing MG/NG rail line Ahmedabad-Botad- Bhavnagar. | Botad-Bhavnagar is already a broad gauge section. Gauge conversion of Ahmedabad- Botad has been taken up at an anticipated cost of ` 567 crores. An expenditure of ` 75 crore has been incurred upto March, 2016. An outlay of ` 102 crore has been provided for this project for the year 2016- 17. Final Location Survey, earthwork, bridges work and station building work have been taken up. |
|    | Doubling                                                                 |                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   |
| 1  | Bhruch-Samni- Dahej                                                      | Gauge conversion of this section has been completed and commissioned. At present, there is no proposal for doubling of this section.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              |
| 2  | Surendranagar- Botad-Dhasa- Rajula-Pipavav                               | Survey for this project has not been sanctioned.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  |
| 3. | Surendranagar- Viramgam-Mehsana                                          | (a) Doubling of Viramgam-Surendrangar (65 Km) section has been completed and commissioned in 2015. (b) Viramgam- Mahesana: No survey for doubling of this section has been taken up.                                                                                                                                                                                                              |
| 4. | Palanpur-Bhildi- Samkhiali- Gandhidham- Mundra (Survey completed)        | Palanpur-Bhildi-Samakhiali-Gandhidham- Mundra: On this route, (a) Doubling of Palanpur- Bhildi- Samakhyali has been taken up at an anticipated cost of ` 1267 crore being funded by Kutch Railway Company Ltd. An outlay of ` 151 crore has been provided for the year 2016-17. Final location survey, bridges work and Road Under Bridges (RUB) work have been taken up.                         |

|    |                                                                        | (b) Samakhayali- Gandhidham-Adipur is already an existing double broad gauge line section. (c) No survey for doubling of Adipur- Mundra has been sanctioned.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            |
|----|------------------------------------------------------------------------|---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
|  5 | Viramgam- Samakhaili- Gandhidham (proposed to be taken up in 2011- 12) | Viramgam-Samakhaili-Gandhidham: Viramgam-Sadla (21 km), Jatpipli-Vasadva (12 km) & Chuli-Sukhpur (10 km) sections have been completed & commissioned. Works in balance section have been taken up. Samakhayali-Gandhidham is already an existing double line section.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   |
|  6 | Ahmedabad- Mehsana-Jaipur                                              | (a) The work of Gauge conversion of Ahmedabad-Mehsana (70 km) metre gauge (MG) line running parallel to existing broad gauge (BG) line has been included in the Budget 2015-16. Detailed estimate has been sanctioned. Tendering for earthwork bridges work, ballast supply, track linking have been taken up. (b) Survey for Doubling of Mehsana- Palanpur (65 Km) section has been taken up. (c) Doubling of Palanpur-Ajmer has been sanctioned in different patches and works have been taken up. (d) Ajmer-Jaipur is already a double line section. |
|  7 | Rajkot-Veraval                                                         | Rajkot-Veraval doubling surveys (in 2 parts) have been taken up.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        |
|  8 | Rajkot-Okha                                                            | Survey has been taken up.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               |

-4-

| 9   | Rajkot-Viramgam   | (a) Doubling of Surendranagar-Rajkot (116 km) has been included in the Budget 2015- 16. Detailed estimate has been sanctioned. Tender for final location survey, earthwork, bridges work and ballast supply have been invited. (b) Doubling of Viramgam-Surendrangar (65 Km) section has been completed and commissioned in 2015.   |
|-----|-------------------|-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

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