Lok Sabha Question No. 2522 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2022-12-21
Subject: New Railway Lines
Ministry: RAILWAYS
Asked by: Gowdar Mallikarjunappa Siddeshwara, Prathap Simha, Sanganna Amarappa Karadi, Umesh G. Jadhav, L.S. Tejasvi Surya

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF RAILWAYS

## LOK SABHA

UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 2522

## TO BE ANSWERED ON 21.12.2022

## NEW RAILWAY LINES

2522. SHRI SHA.BRA.DR.JAI SIDDESHWAR SHIVACHARYA MAHASWAMIJI:

SHRI PRATHAP SIMHA:

SHRI SANGANNA AMARAPPA:

DR. UMESH G. JADHAV:

SHRI L.S. TEJASVI SURYA:

Will the Minister of RAILWAYS be pleased to state:

- (a) whether  the  Government  proposes  to  complete  various  new railway lines in the country including Maharashtra and Karnataka,  if  so,  the  details  and  the  present  status  thereof, State-wise;
- (b) the details of various railway projects in Central Railway, South Western Railway and South Central Railways including laying of new railways lines, electrification, doubling of railway projects, gauge conversion/construction of by passes/bridges at railway crossings to avoid accidents, setting up of new railway gates, construction of underpasses, etc. zone, route-wise; and
- (c) the action taken thereon since 2014 onwards to till date?

## ANSWER

MINISTER OF RAILWAYS, COMMUNICATIONS AND ELECTRONICS & INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

(SHRI ASHWINI VAISHNAW)

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

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STATEMENT  REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO PARTS (a) TO (c) OF UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 2522 BY SHRI SHA.BRA.DR.JAI SIDDESHWAR SHIVACHARYA MAHASWAMIJI, SHRI PRATHAP SIMHA, SHRI SANGANNA AMARAPPA, DR. UMESH G. JADHAV AND SHRI L.S. TEJASVI SURYA TO BE ANSWERED  IN  LOK  SABHA  ON  21.12.2022  REGARDING  NEW  RAILWAY LINES

(a) to (c): Yes,  Sir.  The  Railway  projects  are  sanctioned  Zonal Railway wise and not State wise/UT wise as the Railways' projects may span across various state boundaries. As on 01.04.2022, across Indian Railways including Maharashtra and Karnataka, 183 New line projects of total length 20,937 Km, costing approx. ` 4.0 lakh crore are in different stages of planning/sanction/execution, out of which 2,831  Km  length  has  been  commissioned  and  an  expenditure  of approx. ` 1.13 lakh crore has been incurred upto March, 2022.

Zone-wise  details  of  all  ongoing  Railway  Projects  including  cost, expenditure  and  outlay  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)>  Rail  Budget/Pink  Book  (year)> Railway-wise Works, Machinery and Rolling Stock Programme (RSP).

## MAHARASHTRA:

Railway  Projects  in  Maharashtra  are  covered  by  South  Western Railway (SWR), Central Railway (CR), South Central Railway (SCR), South East Central Railway (SECR) and Western Railway (WR).

As  on  01.04.2022,  34  Railway  Projects  (16  New  Lines,  2  Gauge Conversion  and  16  Doubling)  of  total  length  6,118  Km,  costing ` 80,079 crore,  falling fully/partly in  Maharashtra are under different

stages of planning/approval/execution, out of which, 1154 Km length has  been  commissioned  and  an  expenditure  of ` 21,297  crore  has been incurred upto March, 2022.

Since 2014, there has been substantial increase in budget allotment and commensurate commissioning of Railways infrastructure projects. Average annual Budget allocation for infrastructure projects  and  safety  works,  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 2009-14, which is 310% more than  average  annual  Budget  allocation during  2009-14.  These allocations have been increased to ` 7,281  crore  in  Financial  Year 2019-20 (522% more than the average annual Budget allocation of 2009-14), ` 6,700 crore  in  Financial  Year  2020-21  (472%  more  than the average annual Budget allocation of 2009-14) and ` 8,547 crore in  Financial  Year  2021-22  (630%  more  than  the  average  annual Budget allocation of 2009-14). For Financial Year 2022-23, highest ever budget allocation of ` 11,903 crore has been provided for these projects,  which  is  916%  more  than  the  average  annual  Budget allocation of 2009-14 ( ` 1,171 crore per year).

During 2014-22, 1,141 km sections (118 km of New Line, 136 km of Gauge Conversion and 887 km of Doubling) falling fully/ partly in  Maharashtra  have  been  commissioned  at  an  average  rate  of 142.69  km  per  year,  which  is  144%  more  than  average  annual commissioning during 2009-14 (58.4 km per year).

## Karnataka

Railway  Projects  in  Karnataka  are  covered  by  South  Western Railway  (SWR),  Central  Railway  (CR),  Southern  Railway  (SR)  and

South Central Railway (SCR).

As on 01.04.2022, 32 railway projects (21 New line and 11 Doubling) of total length 4,330 km, costing ` 49,087 crore, falling fully/partly in the state of Karnataka are in different stages of planning/sanction/execution,    out    of    which,  1305  km  length  has been commissioned  and an expenditure of ` 16,258 crore has been incurred upto March, 2022.

Average  Annual  Budget  allocation  for  Infrastructure  projects  & safety works, falling fully/ partly in State of Karnataka, during 201419 has been enhanced to ` 2,702 crore per year from ` 835 crore per year  during  2009-14,  which  is  224%  more  than  Average  Annual Budget  allocation  during  2009-14.  These  allocations  have  been increased  to ` 3,386  crore  in  Financial  Year  2019-20  (306%  more than the Average Annual Budget allocation of 2009-14), ` 4,220 crore in  Financial  Year  2020-21  (405%  more  than  the  Average  Annual Budget  allocation  of  2009-14)  and ` 4,297  crore  in  Financial  Year 2021-22 (415% more than the Average Annual Budget allocation of 2009-14). For Financial Year 2022-23, highest ever budget outlay of ` 6,091  crore  has  been  provided  for  these  projects,  which  is  629% more than the Average Annual Budget outlay of 2009-14 ( ` 835 crore per year).

During 2014-22, 1347 Km section (303 km of New line and 1044 km of Doubling) have been commissioned in the state at an average rate 168  km  per  year,  which  is  49%  more  than  commissioning  during 2009-14( 113 Km/Yr.).

The  details  of  on-going  Railway  Electrification  projects  in  Central Railway, South Western Railway and South Central Railway are as under:

| Railway               |   No. of Projects | Total Route Km   |   Total Cost ( ` in crore) |
|-----------------------|-------------------|------------------|----------------------------|
| Central Railway       |                 1 | 377              |                     369.64 |
| South Western         |                10 | 2,203            |                    1864.43 |
| South Central Railway |                 4 | 1,507            |                    1699.01 |

The  progress  of  Railway  Electrification  on  Central  Railway,  South Western Railway and South Central Railway since 2014 onwards till 30.11.2022 are as under:

| Railway               | Total Route Km Electrified since 2014   |
|-----------------------|-----------------------------------------|
| Central Railway       | 1,832                                   |
| South Western Railway | 1,820                                   |
| South Central Railway | 2,887                                   |

At present, 300 ROBs/RUBs work in Central Railway, 329 ROBs/RUBs  in  South  Central  Railway  and  89  ROBs/RUBs  in  South Western Railway are in progress or various stages of planning and estimation. Level Crossings are potential safety hazard for road and rail  users.  As  a  matter  of  policy,  no  new  level  crossing  is  being provided on existing line for safety consideration.

Total 534 ROBs/RUBs in Central Railway, 1070 ROBs/RUBs in South Central Railway and 617 ROBs/RUBs in South Western Railway has been completed since 2014 onwards to till date.

Various  steps  taken  by  the  Government  for  speedy  sanction  and implementation of rail projects include (i) setting up of Gati Shakti units (ii) prioritisation of projects (iii) substantial increase in allocation of funds on priority projects (iv) delegation of powers at field level (v) close  monitoring  of  progress  of project at various levels,  and  (vi)  regular  follow  up  with  State  Governments  and concerned authorities for expeditious land acquisition, forestry and Wildlife  clearances  and  for  resolving  other  issues  pertaining  to projects. This has led to substantial increase in rate of commissioning since 2014.

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