Lok Sabha Question No. 514 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2019-11-20
Subject: Railway Projects
Ministry: RAILWAYS
Asked by: Sadashiv Kisan Lokhande, Bharti Pravin Pawar, Pradeep Kumar Singh, Naranbhai Bhikhabhai Kachhadiya

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF RAILWAYS

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO.514

## TO BE ANSWERED ON 20.11.2019

## RAILWAY PROJECTS

## †514.SHRI SADASHIV KISAN LOKHANDE:

DR. BHARATI PRAVIN PAWAR: SHRI PRADEEP KUMAR SINGH: SHRI NARANBHAI KACHHADIYA:

Will the Minister of RAILWAYS be pleased to state:

- (a) the  number  of  ongoing  railway  projects  at  present  and  their project-wise and zone-wise details thereof;
- (b) the number of projects out of these lagging behind the schedule and  their  project-wise  details  particularly  in  Araria  district  of Bihar;
- (c) the project-wise details of cost escalations, due to the pendency of above projects, deadlines and source of funding; and
- (d) the  details  of  the  steps  taken  to  complete  above  projects  on time?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF RAILWAYS AND COMMERCE & INDUSTRY

## (SHRI PIYUSH GOYAL)

(a): At present 498 Railway projects including 188 New Lines, 55 Gauge Conversion  and  255  Doubling  Projects  are  in  different  stages  of execution/planning/sanction.  The  total  length  of  these  projects  is 6.75  Lakh  Crore.    The  project  wise  details  of projects  are  made  available  in  public  domain  on  Indian  Railways

49,069  km  costing ` website i.e. www.indianrailways.gov.in >Ministry of Railways >Railway

Board  >About  Indian  Railways  >Railway  Board  Directorates  >Finance (Budget).

(b)  to  (d):  The  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. All these factors  vary  from  project  to  project  and  site  to  site  and  affect  the completion time and cost of the project, which is finally worked out at the completion stage.

There are four Railway projects in  the  Araria  district  of  Bihar.  Out  of these,  complete  land  has  not  been  received  in  two  projects,  namely Araria-Galgalia  new  line  (110.75  km)  and  Araria-Supaul  new  line  (92 km).  However,  work  has  been  taken  up  in  available  land  in  ArariaGalgalia project & work on remaining two projects (Saharsa-Forbesganj Gauge Conversion & Jogbani-Biratnagar New Line) have been taken up.

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 Contd..P/3

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  capacity  enhancement  projects,  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.

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