Lok Sabha Question No. 1558 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2019-11-27
Subject: Cash Crunch in Railways
Ministry: RAILWAYS
Asked by: Reddeppa Nallakonda Gari, Venkatesh Netha Borlakunta

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF RAILWAYS

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO.1558 TO BE ANSWERED ON 27.11.2019

## CASH CRUNCH IN RAILWAYS

1558. SHRI N. REDDEPPA: SHRI VENKATESH NETHA BORLAKUNTA:

Will the Minister of RAILWAYS be pleased to state:

- (a) whether the Railways as been hit by severe cash crunch to take up new projects and also to complete ongoing projects in each zone;
- (b) if so, the details thereof and reasons therefor; and
- (c) the corrective steps being taken by the Government in this regard?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF RAILWAYS AND COMMERCE & INDUSTRY

## (SHRI PIYUSH GOYAL)

(a) to (c): Presently, Indian Railways have taken up 498 Railway projects of length 49,069 km, costing ` 6.75 lakh crore, which are in different stages of execution/planning/sanction, out of which, commissioning of 8,979 km has been achieved and expenditure of ` 1.54  lakh  crore  incurred  up  to  March, 2019.

Above projects include:-

188 New Line Projects of length 21,295 km, costing ` 3.87 lakh crore, out of which, commissioning of 2,622 km has been achieved and expenditure of ` 85,536 crore incurred up to March, 2019.

55  Gauge  Conversion  Projects  of  length  7,275  km,  costing ` 56,135  crore, out of which, commissioning of 3,573 km  has been achieved and expenditure of ` 19,640 crore incurred up to March, 2019.

255 Doubling Projects of length 20,500 km, costing ` 2.32 lakh crore, out of which, commissioning of 2,784 km has been achieved and expenditure of ` 48,342 crore incurred up to March, 2019.

The  average  annual  expenditure  in  New  line/Gauge  Conversion/Doubling Projects  in  2009-14  was ` 11527  crore,  which  increased  to ` 26,022  crore, during 2014-19, which is 126%  more of average of 2009-2014.

Further, allocation of Budget for 2019-2020 is ` 30,198 crore, which is, 162% more with respect to average annual budget outlay of 2009-14.

The  details  of  allotment  of  funds  and  expenditure  project-wise  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).

Based on operational requirement, thorough review of throughput enhancement projects has been carried  out  and  with  focussed  approach, the  projects  have  been  prioritized  into  Super  Critical  Projects  (58  nos), Critical Projects (68 nos.) and other throughput enhancement projects (130 nos.).

Presently,  the balance length of Super Critical Projects is 2347 Km, 5676 Km of Critical Projects and 9703 Km for other Doubling Projects. The throwforward for these projects is of the order of ` 1.84 lakh crores and all out sincere  and  focussed  approach  is  being  adopted  by  Railway  for  quick execution and early return to Railways.

For capacity enhancement projects 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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