Lok Sabha Question No. 89 (STARRED), answered on 2017-02-08
Subject: Development of Railway Network
Ministry: RAILWAYS
Asked by: RAMESWAR TELI

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF RAILWAYS

## LOK SABHA

STARRED QUESTION  NO. 89 TO BE ANSWERED ON 08.02.2017

DEVELOPMENT OF RAILWAY NETWORK

*89.  SHRI RAMESWAR TELI: Will the Minister of RAILWAYS be pleased to state: (a)    the growth recorded in the expansion of railway network, both metre and broad-gauge during the last three plan periods, plan-wise; (b) whether  the  Railways  have  any  proposal  to  develop  the  railway network in unserved areas including the electrification of lines in the NorthEastern States and if so, the details thereof; and whether the Railways have estimated total funds required to execute

(c) such projects and if so, the details thereof?

ANSWER

MINISTER OF RAILWAYS

(SHRI SURESH PRABHAKAR PRABHU)

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

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STATEMENT REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO PARTS (a) TO (c) OF STARRED QUESTION NO.  89  BY  SHRI  RAMESWAR  TELI  TO  BE  ANSWERED  IN  LOK SABHA ON 08.02.2017 REGARDING DEVELOPMENT OF RAILWAY NETWORK

(a) : The growth recorded in expansion of railway network in the last three plan periods including current five year plan(first four years achievements ) are given below:-

| Plan Head             |   9th Plan (1997-2002) |   10th Plan (2002- 2007) |   11th Plan (2007-2012) |   12th Plan (2012 -17) (first four years achievements) |
|-----------------------|------------------------|--------------------------|-------------------------|--------------------------------------------------------|
| New Line(Km)          |                    663 |                      920 |                    2207 |                                                   2143 |
| Gauge Conversion (Km) |                   2103 |                     4289 |                    5321 |                                                   2931 |
| Doubling (Km)         |                    991 |                     1299 |                    2758 |                                                   3109 |

The above growth has been in broad gauge only. Meter gauge track is being progressively converted to broad gauge under gauge conversion. (b) & (c): North  Eastern  Region  is  served  by  Northeast  Frontier  Railway consisting of 8 states i.e. Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram, Tripura, Meghalaya and Sikkim.  Indian Railways have laid great emphasis  on  improvement  in  Railway  infrastructure  in  the  North  Eastern Region.

In  last  2½  years,  following major developments have taken place in North Eastern Region:

- (i) Naharlagun which is 10 km short of Itanagar, by this the capital of Arunachal Pradesh, has been connected to the National Capital by a direct train.
- (ii) With commissioning of Balipara-Bhalukpong line after gauge conversion, Arunachal Pradesh have been provided with second Broad Gauge connectivity.

- (iii) Entire  track  on  North  Bank  of  Brahmaputra,  running  very  close  to Assam-Arunachal  border,  has  been  connected  to  Broad  Gauge  with commissioning of Rangiya-Murkongselek Broad Gauge line.
- (iv) Meghalaya  has  been  brought  on  railway  map  of  the  country  with commissioning of Dudhnoi-Mendipathar railway line.
- (v) With commissioning of Lumding-Silchar Broad Gauge line, the Barak Valley has been brought on Broad Gauge network of the country.
- (vi) Agartala,  the  capital  of  Tripura  has  been  brought  on  Broad  Gauge network.
- (vii) With commissioning of Gauge Conversion of Arunachal-Jiribam section,  Manipur  state  has  also  been  connected  with  Broad  Gauge network.
- (viii) With  commissioning  of  Kathakal  -  Bhairabi  Broad  Gauge  line,  the State of Mizoram has come on Broad Gauge network.
- (ix)
- Around 900 km of Metre Gauge has been converted into Broad Gauge.
- (x)
- 29 new train services have been added in the North Eastern Region.

20  major  railway  projects  consisting  of  13  new  lines,  2  gauge conversions and 5 doublings having aggregate length of 2624 km at a cost of ` 52030  crore  have  been  taken  up  in  North  Eastern  Region.    An expenditure  of ` 21336  crore  has  been  incurred  on  these  projects  upto March, 2016.  An outlay of ` 5040 crore has been provided for 2016-17 for these projects and residual liabilities of some completed projects. ` 5586 crore  has  been  allotted  for  the  works  in  North  Eastern  Region  in  Budget 2017-18. 3 New Lines having aggregate length of 186 km costing ` 9279 crore and 2 Doublings having aggregate length of 17.3 km costing ` 3944.32 crore and 18 surveys for New Lines have been included in Budget 2017-18.

Out  of  8  States  of  North  Eastern  Region,  rail  network  connectivity now  exists  in  7  States.  For,  Sikkim,  the  new  line  project  Sivok-Rangpo (44  km)  has  been  sanctioned.  The  details  of  projects  sanctioned  for providing  connectivity  to  capital  cities  of  North  Eastern  States  are  as under:-

| S.No.   | Name of Project                                                                                                         | State covered        |   Estimated Cost (in ` crore) |
|---------|-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|----------------------|-------------------------------|
| 1.      | New BG Line from Jiribam-Imphal (110.625 Km) (National Project)                                                         | Manipur              |                          9658 |
| 2.      | New BG line from Bhairabi to Sairang (51.38 Km) (National Project)                                                      | Mizoram              |                          4600 |
| 3.      | New BG line from Sivok to Rangpo (44.96 Km) (National Project)                                                          | West Bengal & Sikkim |                          4085 |
| 4.      | New line from Dimapur to Zubza (88 Km) Now Dhansiri- Sukhobi- Zubza (91.75 Km) (National Project)                       | Nagaland             |                          3000 |
| 5a      | New BG Line from Tetelia-Byrnihat as an alternative alignment to Azara-Byrnihat new line (21.50 Km.) (National Project) | Assam & Meghalaya    |                           780 |
| 5b      | New BG Line from Byrnihat-Shillong (108.4 Km) (National Project)                                                        | Meghalaya            |                          6000 |

Following electrification projects in North Eastern States have been included in Budget  2017-18 :-

| S.NO.   | Name of Project                                         |   Route Kms |   Anticipated Cost ( ` crores) |
|---------|---------------------------------------------------------|-------------|--------------------------------|
| 1       | Guwahati-Dibrugarh via Tinsukia and Simalguri-Dibrugarh |         656 |                         890.36 |
| 2       | New Bongaigaon-Agthori via Rangiya                      |         143 |                         137.9  |
| 3       | New Bongaigaon-Goalpara-Kamakhiya                       |         175 |                         282.23 |
|         | Total                                                   |         974 |                        1310.49 |

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