Lok Sabha Question No. 3868 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2019-12-11
Subject: Ongoing/Pending Railway Projects in Maharashtra
Ministry: RAILWAYS
Asked by: Unmesh Bhaiyyasaheb Patil

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF RAILWAYS

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 3868 TO BE ANSWERED ON 11.12.2019

## ONGOING/PENDING RAILWAY PROJECTS IN MAHARASHTRA

3868. SHRI UNMESH BHAIYYASAHEB PATIL:

Will the Minister of RAILWAYS be pleased to state:

- (a) the details of the various on-going and pending railway projects in the State of Maharashtra, project-wise and their present status;
- (b) the  number  of  railway  projects  lagging  behind  the  scheduled completion along with the details thereof;
- (c) whether  the  Chalisgaon  -  Aurangabad  railway  line  is  one  of  the railway  lines  that  is  getting  delayed  and  if  so,  the  details  thereof and the reasons therefor;
- (d) the sanctioned/on-going projects of the State which are likely to be completed or undertaken during 2019-20; and
- (e) the  measures  being  taken  by  the  Government  for  the  expeditious completion of these projects?

## ANSWER

MINISTER OF RAILWAYS AND COMMERCE & INDUSTRY

(SHRI PIYUSH GOYAL)

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

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STATEMENT  REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO PARTS (a) TO (e) OF UNSTARRED  QUESTION  NO.  3868  BY  SHRI  UNMESH  BHAIYYASAHEB PATIL  TO  BE  ANSWERED  IN  LOK  SABHA  ON  11.12.2019  REGARDING ONGOING/PENDING RAILWAY PROJECTS IN MAHARASHTRA

(a) to (e): Presently,  38  projects  costing ₹ 73,485  crore  for ₹ 5,879  km length falling  fully/partly  in  the  State  of  Maharashtra  are  under  different stage  of  planning/approval/execution,  out  of  which,  797  km  length  has been  commissioned  and  an  expenditure  of ₹ 13,172  crore  has  been incurred upto March, 2019. These include:

16 New Line projects covering a length of 2,043 km at a cost of ₹ 38,129 crore,  out  of  which,  63  km  length  has  been  commissioned  and  an expenditure of ₹ 3,479 crore has been incurred upto March 2019. An outlay of ₹ 987 crore has been provided for 2019-20.

5 Gauge Conversion projects covering a length of 1,135 km at a cost of ₹ 11,102 crore, out of which, 500 km length has been commissioned and an expenditure of ₹ 4324 crore has been incurred upto March 2019.  An outlay of ₹ 806 crore has been provided for 2019-20.

17 Doubling projects covering a length of 2,701 km at a cost of ₹ 24,255 crore,  out  of  which,  234  km  length  has  been  commissioned  and  an expenditure of ₹ 5,369 crore has been incurred upto March 2019. An outlay of ₹ 2,858 crore has been provided for 2019-20.

Survey for new line between Chalisgaon - Aurangabad (93 km) was completed  in  2017-18.  As  per  survey  report,  cost  of  the  project  was assessed as ` 1,689.51 crore with Rate of Return (RoR) (-) 2.23%. In view of negative RoR and poor freight potential, the project could not be taken forwarded.

Gauge Conversion of Pachora-Jamner with extension upto Malkapur (84  km)  has  been  included  in  Budget  2019-20  subject  to  requisite Government approvals at a cost of ₹ 850 crore.

The  details  of all  ongoing  and  pending  (for  want  of  requisite Government approvals) Railway projects falling fully/partly in the State of Maharashtra including project-wise allotment of funds and expenditure 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).

Thorough  review  of  throughput  enhancement  projects  has  been carried out and with focused approach, the projects have been prioritized into  Super  Critical,  Critical  and  other  throughput  enhancement  projects. All  out  sincere and focused efforts are being made by Railway for quick execution of these projects so as to get early returns to Railway.

In order 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  other  concerned authorities  to  resolve  the  pending  issues  that  are  obstructing  the progress of projects.

Till 2013-14, due to overall limited availability of funds, most of the projects  were  not  progressing  satisfactorily.  Since  2014-15,  based  on physical progress of projects, last mile connectivity projects and projects for decongesting the existing routes have been given sufficient funds.  For  this  purpose,  funds  for  capacity  enhancement  projects  have been  arranged  through  institutional  financing  by  tying  up  loan  for ` 1.5 lakh  crore  for  assured  funding  of  viable  projects.  Thus,  there  is  no constraint of funds for execution of doubling / 3 rd  line / 4 th  line projects.

Average  annual  Budget  allocation  for  Infrastructure  projects  and Safety works for the projects falling fully/partly in the State of Maharashtra, during 2014-19 has been enhanced to ₹ 4,801 crore per year from ₹ 1,171 crore per year (during 2009-10 to 2013-14). Thus, the average Budget  allocation  during  2014-19  is  410%  of  average  annual  Budget allocation of previous five years (2009-14).

Total  allocation  of  Budget  for  Infrastructure  projects  and  Safety works falling fully/ partly in State of   Maharashtra, in 2019-20 is ₹ 7,281 crore, which is 622% of average annual Budget allocation of 2009-14.

During  2009-14,  292  km  (111  km  of  New  Line,  135  km  of  Gauge Conversion and 46 km of Doubling projects) have been commissioned in the State of Maharashtra at an average rate of 58 km per year.

During  2014-19,  596  km  (87  km  of  New  Line,  92  km  of  Gauge Conversion and 417 km of Doubling projects) have been commissioned in the State of Maharashtra at an average rate of 119 km per year, which is 204% of commissioning during 2009-14.

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.

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  conditions,  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 differs from project to project and affects the completion time of the project. As such, firm completion time of the projects cannot be fixed at this stage.

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