Lok Sabha Question No. 2847 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2019-07-10
Subject: Ongoing Railway Projects in West Bengal
Ministry: RAILWAYS
Asked by: Khagen Murmu, Sukanta Majumdar, Vinod Kumar Sonkar, Saptagiri Sankar Ulaka, S.R. Parthiban, Jaswantsinh Sumanbhai Bhabhor, Raja Amareshwara Naik

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF RAILWAYS

LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 2847 TO BE ANSWERED ON 10.07.2019

## ONGOING RAILWAY PROJECTS IN WEST BENGAL

## 2847.    SHRI KHAGEN MURMU:

DR. SUKANTA MAJUMDAR:

SHRI VINOD KUMAR SONKAR:

SHRI SAPTAGIRI SANKAR ULAKA:

SHRI PARTHIBAN S.R.:

SHRI JASWANT SINGH BHABHOR:

SHRI RAJA AMARESHWARA NAIK:

Will the Minister of RAILWAYS be pleased to state:

- (a) whether several railway projects in the country specially in West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh, Odisha, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Gujarat have been progressing at very slow pace;
- (b) if  so,  the  details  thereof  along  with  the  current  status,  projectwise;
- (c) the  details  of  time,  source  of  funding  and  cost  overrun  of  rail projects, project-wise;
- (d) the details of any pending proposals of new railway projects, Statewise; and
- (e) the steps being taken by the Government for the speedy execution of these railway projects?

## ANSWER

MINISTER OF RAILWAYS AND COMMERCE & INDUSTRY

## (SHRI PIYUSH GOYAL)

(a) to (e): At present, 491 Railway projects including 54 projects in West

Bengal of  length  4427  km  costing ` 42734  crores,  79  projects  falling

fully/partly in Uttar Pradesh of length 6604 km costing ` 88213 crores, 35 projects falling fully/partly  in  Odisha  of  length 4537 km costing ` 47912 crores,  22  projects  falling  fully/partly  in  Tamil  Nadu  of  length  2519  km costing ` 21829  crores,  35  projects  falling  fully/partly  in  Karnataka  of length 4417 km costing ` 41746 crores and 40 projects falling fully/partly in  Gujarat  of  length  3600  km  costing ` 24786  crores  are  in  different stages of planning/approval/execution.

The total length of 491 Railway projects is 48861 km costing ` 6.48 Lakh Crore. The total expenditure on these projects up to March, 2019 is ` 1.43 Lakh Crore and length commissioned is 9113 km.

However,  the  details  of  all  works  in  progress  and  new  works including funds spent on each project, 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) >2019-20\_List\_of\_Works.

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.  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.

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