Lok Sabha Question No. 2825 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2019-07-10
Subject: New Railway Lines
Ministry: RAILWAYS
Asked by: Umesh G. Jadhav

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF RAILWAYS

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 2825 TO BE ANSWERED ON 10.07.2019

## NEW RAILWAY LINES

2825.  DR. UMESH G. JADHAV:

Will the Minister of RAILWAYS be pleased to state:

- (a) the length of the new railway lines laid in the country during the last 3 years and the current year, State/UT-wise;
- (b) whether the modernisation and extension of railway lines in the  country  has  been  slow  as  compared  to  other  countries such as China;
- (c) if so, the details and the reasons therefor; and
- (d) the  measures taken/being taken by the  Government in this regard?

## ANSWER

MINISTER OF RAILWAYS AND COMMERCE & INDUSTRY

(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. 2825 BY DR. UMESH G. JADHAV TO BE  ANSWERED  IN  LOK  SABHA  ON  10.07.2019  REGARDING  NEW RAILWAY LINES (a):      The  projects  are  not  sanctioned  State-wise,  area-wise  and region-wise.  Since new lines generally straddle over more than one State,  details  of  ongoing  projects  are  maintained  Zone-wise.  The length of New Lines laid in the last three years and current year is 1842 Kilometres. (b) to (d):   Modernization on the Railways is an ongoing process. To meet the demands of modern Railway network, Railway is laying modern  track  structure  consisting  of  60  kg,  90  Ultimate  Tensile Strength  (UTS)  rails  on  Pre-stressed  Reinforced  Concrete  (PSC) sleepers with 1660 sleepers per km at the time of renewals, laying longer  rails,  minimizing  the  use  of  Alumino  Thermic  Welding, adopting better welding technology for rails i.e. Flash Butt Welding, maintaining  track  with  the  help  of  track  machines,  conducting Ultrasonic testing of rails to detect flaws, etc. Further, timely completion of any Railway project depends on various  factors  like  quick  land  acquisition  by  State  Government, forest  clearance  by  officials  of  forest  department,  shifting  of infringing  utilities  (both  underground  and  over  ground),  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 considerations, encountering unforeseen conditions like earthquake, flooding, excessive rains, strikes of labour, orders

of Hon'ble Courts, situation and conditions of working agencies/contractors etc. and all these factors affect the completion cost of the project, which is finally worked out at the completion stage.

In  the  overall  interest  of  the  nation  and  to  ensure  that projects are completed  in  time  without cost overrun, lot of monitoring  is  done  in  Railways  at  various  levels  (field  level, divisional level, zonal level and Board level) and regular meetings are  held  with  the  officials  of  State  Government  and  concerned authorities to resolve the pending issues that are obstructing the progress of projects.

To  ensure  that  projects  are  completed  even  before  time, Railway has adopted the concept of incentives to the contractor in the form of bonus clause in contracts which will further enhance the pace of execution of projects.

For  important  projects,  capacity  enhancement  projects,  last mile  connectivity  etc.  institutional  financing  has  been  done  by arranging  loan  of ` 1.5  lakh  crore,  which  has  increased  Railways' capacity for committed fund provision for essential projects.

*****