Lok Sabha Question No. 4713 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2021-03-24
Subject: Rail Infrastructure Projects
Ministry: RAILWAYS
Asked by: Heena Vijaykumar Gavit, Shrikant Eknath Shinde, Sujay Radhakrishna Vikhepatil, Sambhajirao Mane Dhairyasheel, Unmesh Bhaiyyasaheb Patil

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF RAILWAYS

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO.4713 TO BE ANSWERED ON 24.03.2021

## RAIL INFRASTRUCTURE PROJECTS

4713. DR. HEENA GAVIT:

DR. SHRIKANT EKNATH SHINDE: DR. SUJAY RADHAKRISHNA VIKHE PATIL: SHRI DHAIRYASHEEL SAMBHAJIRAO MANE: SHRI UNMESH BHAIYYASAHEB PATIL:

Will the Minister of RAILWAYS be pleased to state:

- (a) whether the Government has approved and sanctioned major and capital  intensive  rail  infrastructure  projects  as  part  of  the  year 2022 deadline and if so, the details thereof along with the details of works completed in each segment including the status of such projects in Maharashtra;
- (b) whether the Government has also expedited the works of Dedicated Freight Corridor (DFC) and if so, the details thereof;
- (c) whether  the  DFC  comprises  of  Maharashtra,  if  so,  the  details thereof and if not, the reasons therefor;
- (d) the reasons, if any, for the delay in completion of DFC; and
- (e) the  steps  taken  by  the  Government  to  resolve  the  issues  at  all places  particularly  for  the  stretch  in  Maharashtra  to  meet  the target deadline including fixing of responsibility of officials for the delay in completion of DFC?

## ANSWER

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

(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. 4713 BY DR. HEENA GAVIT, DR. SHRIKANT  EKNATH  SHINDE,  DR.  SUJAY  RADHAKRISHNA  VIKHE PATIL, SHRI DHAIRYASHEEL SAMBHAJIRAO MANE AND SHRI UNMESH BHAIYYASAHEB PATIL TO BE ANSWERED IN LOK SABHA ON 24.03.2021 REGARDING RAIL INFRASTRUCTURE PROJECTS

(a):  Railway  projects  are  taken  up  on  the  basis  of  remunerativeness, last mile connectivity, missing links and alternate routes, augmentation of congested/saturated lines, socio-economic considerations etc. depending upon throw forward of ongoing projects, overall availability of funds and competing demands.

As  on  01.04.2020,  513  Railway  projects  (189  New  line,  54  Gauge Conversion and 270 Doubling works) of 53,039 km length, costing approx. ` 7.5 lakh Crore are in different stages of planning/sanction/execution,  out  of  which  10,013  km  length  has  been commissioned  and  an  expenditure  of ` 1.86  lakh  crore  has  been incurred upto March, 2020.

The Railway projects are sanctioned Zonal Railway-wise and not Statewise  as  the  Indian  Railways'  network  spans  across  various  State boundaries. However, 39 projects  (16 New Line, 05 Gauge Conversion and  18  Doubling  Projects),  covering  a  length  of  6772  km  costing ` 86,696  crore  falling  fully/partly  in  the  State  of  Maharashtra    are  in different stages of planning/sanction/execution, out of which, 1026 km length has been commissioned and an expenditure of ` 17,841 crore has been incurred upto March, 2020.

Thorough  review  of  projects  has  been  carried  out  and  with  focused approach, projects have been prioritized into 58 Super Critical Projects, 68 Critical Projects, 20 Additional Coal Projects, 41 Additional HDN/HUN   Projects,  43  Essential  Multi  tracking  Projects,  9 National

Projects,  55  Essential  New  line  Projects  and  30  Gauge  conversion projects and all out sincere and focused approach is being adopted by Railway for quick execution so as to get early returns to Railways.

The Completion of Railway project(s) depends on various factors like expeditious land acquisition by State Government, forest clearance by officials  of  forest  department,  shifting  of  infringing  utilities,  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  etc.  and  all  these  factors  affect  the  completion time  of  the  project(s).  Nevertheless,  every  efforts  is  being  made  to execute the project(s) expeditiously.

Average annual Budget allocation for infrastructure and safety works, falling fully/partly in State of Maharashtra during 2014-19, has increased  to ` 4,801  crore  per  year  from ` 1,171  crore  per  year  during 2009-14,  which  is  310%  more  than  average  annual  budget  outlay  of 2009-14  and  budget  outlay  of ` 6,572  crore  was  provided  to  these projects for  financial  year  2020-21  which  is  461%  more  than  average annual  budget  outlay  of  2009-14.  Budget  outlay  of ` 7,107  crore  has been  proposed  to  these  projects  for  Financial  Year  2021-22  which  is 507% more than Average Annual outlay of 2009-14.

During  2014-19,  596  km  length  (87  km  New  Lines,  92  km  Gauge Conversion  and  417  km  Doubling)  falling  fully/partly  in  the  State  of Maharashtra  has  been  commissioned,  which  is  104%  more  than  the commissioning  during  2009-14  (292  km).  During  2019-20,  183  km Doubling  has  been  commissioned  which  is  213%  more  than  average annual commissioning during 2009-14 (58.4 km/year).

(b):  Yes,  Sir.  The  Dedicated  Freight  Corridor  (DFC)  project  comprising 2853  route  km  has  witnessed  major  progress  recently  and  a  total  of 657 km of sections have been commissioned on Eastern and Western Dedicated Freight Corridor during the year:

- (i) Eastern  Dedicated  Freight  Corridor:  New  Baupur  New  Khurja section (351 km) commissioned on 29.12.2020.
- (ii) Western Dedicated Freight Corridor: New-Rewari-New Kishangarh-Madar section (306 km) commissioned on 07.01.2021.

The entire project is targeted for completion by June 2022.

- (c): 184  km  route  length  of Western  DFC  falls in the state of Maharashtra.
- (d)  &  (e):  Delay  in  completion  of  DFC  is,  mainly  due  to  following reasons:
- (i)    Delay in land acquisition and physical possession of land, (ii) replacement  of  all  level  crossing  (LCs)  with  Road  Over  Bridges (ROBs)/Road  Under Bridges  (RUBs),  (iii)  resistance  by  Project Affected  People  (PAP)  in  handing  over  land,  (iv)  court  cases related  to  land  issues,  (v)  working  Capital  problem  with  EPC (Engineering, Procurement and Construction) contractors and (vi)
- effect of COVID-19 on supply chain of material.

All efforts are being made to resolve the above issues and expedite the work in consultation with State Governments. Various measures have been  undertaken  to  improve  the  cash  flow  of  the  contractors  by implementing the guidance issued by Ministry of Finance.

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