Lok Sabha Question No. 3487 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2021-03-17
Subject: Railway projects in Tamil Nadu
Ministry: RAILWAYS
Asked by: S. Venkatesan, V. Kalanidhi

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF RAILWAYS

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 3487 TO BE ANSWERED ON 17.03.2021

## RAILWAY PROJECTS IN TAMIL NADU

3487.  SHRI S. VENKATESAN: DR. KALANIDHI VEERASWAMY:

Will the Minister of RAILWAYS be pleased to state:

- (a) the  details  and  status  of  the  pending  works  related  to  new railway  lines,  doublings,  conversion  of  railway  lines  as  well  as electrification  in  Tamil  Nadu  including  Madurai  during  the  last five years;
- (b) the  details  of  funds  allocated/sanctioned/spent  on  the  above projects so far in Tamil Nadu including Madurai, during the last five years;
- (c) whether the Government has sanctioned any new routes within Tamil  Nadu  including  Madurai  and  beyond  and  introduction  of bullet train; and
- (d) if so, whether the Government  has fixed any targets for completion of the above projects?

## ANSWER

MINISTER OF RAILWAYS, COMMERCE & INDUSTRY AND CONSUMER AFFAIRS, FOOD & PUBLIC DISTRIBUTION

(SHRI PIYUSH GOYAL)

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

*****

STATEMENT  REFERRED  TO  IN  REPLY  TO  PARTS  (a)  TO  (d)  OF UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 3487 BY SHRI S. VENKATESAN AND DR. KALANIDHI  VEERASWAMY  TO  BE  ANSWERED  IN  LOK  SABHA  ON

17.03.2021 REGARDING RAILWAY PROJECTS IN TAMIL NADU

(a) and (b):  Railway projects are sanctioned Zonal Railway-wise, not State-wise/District-wise,  as  Indian  Railways'  network  spans  across various State boundaries. However, as on 01.04.2020, total 27 projects of  total  length  3,128  Km,  costing ` 30,961 crore, falling  fully/partly  in the  State  of  Tamil  Nadu  including  Madurai  are  in  different  stages  of planning/sanctioning/execution. These include:-

-  09 new line projects of total length 871 Km, costing ` 11,988 crore.  An  expenditure  of ` 509  crore  has  been  incurred  upto March, 2020.
-  04 gauge conversion projects of total length 839 Km, costing ` 4,799 crore, out of which 583 Km length has been commissioned  and  an  expenditure  of ` 2,714  crore  has  been incurred upto March, 2020.
-  14 doubling projects of total length 1,418 Km, costing ` 14,174 crore,  out  of  which  123  Km  length  has  been  commissioned and  an  expenditure  of ` 2,686  crore  has  been  incurred  upto March, 2020.

Besides,  09  Electrification  projects  covering  a  length  of  1,405 Km falling  fully/partly  in  the  State  of  Tamil  Nadu,  including  Madurai, have  also  been  included  in  the  Budget  during  last  five  years.  An expenditure of ` 22,184 crore has been incurred during last 5 years.

Average  annual  Budget  Allocation  for  Infrastructure  projects  & safety works, falling fully/partly in State of Tamil Nadu, during 2014-19 has been increased to ` 1,979 crore/year from ` 879 crore/year  during 2009-14, which is 125% more than the average annual Budget outlay of 2009-14.  An  outlay  of ` 2,972  crore  has  been  proposed  for  Financial Year 2021-22 for these projects. This is highest ever outlay for these projects and is 238% more than average annual Budget outlay of 200914.

The project-wise details of projects including cost,  expenditure and  outlay  are  made  available  in  public  domain  on  Indian  Railways website i.e. www.indianrailways.gov.in >Ministry of Railways >Railway Board >About Indian Railways >Railway Board Directorates >Finance (Budget)>Pink  Book  (year)>Railway-wise  Works  Machinery  &  Rolling Stock Programme.

(c): Presently, Mumbai-Ahmedabad High Speed Rail (MAHSR) Project is  the  only  sanctioned  High  Speed  Rail  (HSR)  project  in  the  country with  technical  and  financial  assistance  of  Government  of  Japan. However, the work for the preparation of Detailed Project Report (DPR) for  the  following  07  new  High  Speed  Rail  (HSR)  corridors  has  been entrusted to National High Speed Rail Corporation Limited (NHSRCL) :

- (i) Delhi-Noida-Agra-Kanpur-Lucknow-Varanasi
- (ii) Delhi-Jaipur-Udaipur-Ahmedabad
- (iii) Mumbai-Nasik-Nagpur

- (iv) Mumbai-Pune-Hyderabad
- (v) Chennai-Bangalore-Mysore
- (vi) Delhi-Chandigarh-Ludhiana-Jalandhar Amritsar
- (vii) Varanasi-Patna-Howrah

(d): The  completion  of  any  Railway  projects  depends  on  various factors like quick land acquisition by State Government,  forest clearance  by  officials  of  forest  department,  shifting  of  infringing utilities, statutory clearances from various authorities, geological and topographical conditions of area, law and order situation in the area of project site, number of working months in a year for particular project site  due  to  climatic  conditions  etc.    All  these  factors  affect  the completion  time  of  the  projects.  As  such  confirmed  time  frame  for completion of these projects cannot be ascertained at this stage.

*****