Lok Sabha Question No. 4683 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2021-03-24
Subject: National Rail Plan
Ministry: RAILWAYS
Asked by: Jaskaur Meena, V. Kalanidhi

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF RAILWAYS

## LOK  SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION  NO. 4683 TO BE ANSWERED ON  24.03.2021

## NATIONAL RAIL PLAN

†4683. SHRIMATI JASKAUR MEENA: DR. KALANIDHI VEERASWAMY:

Will the Minister of RAILWAYS be pleased to state:

- (a) the main features of the National Rail Plan;
- (b) the details of the estimated amount of funds earmarked for this purpose;
- (c) the details of the proposed target in this regard;
- (d) whether a number of districts of various States are likely to be linked with this Plan;
- (e) if so, the details thereof, particularly Rajasthan; and
- (f) the time by which it is likely to be commenced?

## ANSWER

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

(SHRI PIYUSH GOYAL)

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

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STATEMENT  REFERRED  TO  IN  REPLY  TO  PARTS  (a)  TO  (f)  OF  UNSTARRED QUESTION  NO.  4683  BY  SHRIMATI  JASKAUR  MEENA  AND  DR.  KALANIDHI VEERASWAMY TO BE ANSWERED IN LOK SABHA ON 24.03.2021 REGARDING NATIONAL RAIL PLAN

- (a) : Indian Railways have prepared a National Rail Plan (NRP) for India - 2030. The Plan is to create a 'future ready' Railway system by 2030.  The NRP is aimed to  formulate  strategies  based  on  both  operational  capacities  and commercial  policy  initiatives  to  increase  modal  share  of  the  Railways  in freight.  The  objective  of  the  Plan  is  to  create  capacity  ahead  of  demand, which in turn would also cater to future growth in demand right up to 2050 and also increase the modal share of Railways to 45% in freight traffic and to  continue  to  sustain  it.  To  achieve  this  objective  all  possible  financial models including Public Private Partnership (PPP) are being considered.

The main features of the National Rail Plan are:-

-  Formulate strategies based on both operational capacities and commercial  policy  initiatives  to  increase  modal  share  of  the  Railways  in freight to 45%.
-  Reduce transit time of freight substantially by increasing average speed of freight trains to 50Kmph.
-  As  part  of  the  National  Rail  Plan,  Vision  2024  has  been  launched  for accelerated  implementation  of  certain  critical  projects  by  2024  such  as 100%  electrification,  multi-tracking  of  congested  routes,  upgradation  of speed to 160 kmph on Delhi-Howrah and Delhi-Mumbai routes, upgradation of  speed  to  130kmph  on  all  other  Golden  Quadrilateral-Golden  Diagonal (GQ/GD) routes and elimination of all Level Crossings on all GQ/GD route.
-  Identify new Dedicated Freight Corridors.
-  Identify new High Speed Rail Corridors.
-  Assess rolling stock requirement for passenger traffic as well as wagon requirement for freight.
-  Assess Locomotive  requirement  to meet  twin objectives of  100% electrification (Green Energy) and increasing freight modal share.
-  Assess the total investment in capital that would be required along with a periodical break up.
-  Sustained involvement of the Private Sector in areas like operations and ownership of rolling stock, development of freight and passenger terminals, development/operations of track infrastructure etc.

The draft plan has been put up in the public domain (The Indian Railways website) and is also being circulated amongst stakeholders for comments/remarks.

- (b) and  (c):  Once  the  comments/remarks  from  stakeholders  have  been obtained, the NRP in its final form will be issued incorporating the pipeline of projects that will be executed up to 2030. The Detailed Project Report (DPR)  for  each  project  will  be  prepared  and  processed  for  sanctioning. Once sanction is obtained, fund requirement on a year to year basis will be worked out and the funds earmarked in the annual capital expenditure.
- (d) and (e) : The NRP is for the entire Indian Railways network and not only for districts connected to the existing rail network but also districts indirectly impacted by rail  transportation.  In  effect  virtually  all  the  districts  of  the country get linked to the plan including districts of Rajasthan.
- (f) : Implementation of the NRP has already commenced. The Indian Railways has  identified  and  prioritised  a  large  number  of  projects  designated  as Super  Critical,  Critical  and  Coal/Port  connectivity,  for  completion  as  per the Vision 2024 document which is a subset of the National Rail Plan.

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