Lok Sabha Question No. 157 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2022-12-07
Subject: Construction Work of New Railway Lines
Ministry: RAILWAYS
Asked by: Ganesh Singh

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF RAILWAYS

## LOK SABHA

## UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 157 TO BE ANSWERED ON 07.12.2022

## CONSTRUCTION WORK OF NEW RAILWAY LINES

†157. SHRI GANESH SINGH:

Will the Minister of RAILWAYS be pleased to state:

- (a) whether the construction works of a number of railway lines in the  country  are  not  getting  completed  on  time  due  to  nonavailability of compensation fund and if so, the facts thereof;
- (b) whether the construction work of Satna, Nagod and Panna rail section  under  the  Lalitpur-Singrauli  railway  line  has  been stopped due to non-availability of such compensation funds and if so, the details thereof;
- (c) whether  operation  of  trains  from  Satna  to  Nagod  will  be commenced by the end of year 2023; and
- (d) if  so,  the  details  thereof  and  the  action  being  taken  by  the Government  to  speed  up  the  said  construction  work  and  to complete it on time?

## ANSWER

MINISTER OF RAILWAYS, COMMUNICATIONS AND ELECTRONICS & INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

(SHRI ASHWINI VAISHNAW)

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

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STATEMENT  REFERRED  TO  IN  REPLY  TO  PARTS  (a)  TO  (d)  OF UNSTARRED QUESTION NO.  157  BY  SHRI  GANESH  SINGH  TO  BE ANSWERED IN LOK SABHA ON 07.12.2022 REGARDING CONSTRUCTION WORK OF NEW RAILWAY LINES

(a)  &  (d):  As  on  01.04.2022,  across  Indian  Railways,  452  Railway projects (183 New Line, 42 Gauge Conversion and 227 Doubling) of total  length  49,323  Km,  costing approx. ` 7.33  lakh  crore  are  in different stages of planning/sanction/execution, out of which 11,518 Km length has been commissioned and an expenditure of approx. ` 2.35 lakh crore has been incurred upto March, 2022.

Zonal  Railway  wise  details  of  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).

Railway has reviewed all the projects based on last mile connectivity, missing links, traffic potential on the project, capacity enhancement, availability of land, forest/wild-life clearance etc. and based  on  the review, Railway projects have  been  prioritized. Presently, Railway's focus is on completion of capacity enhancement  projects,  last  mile  connectivity  projects,  National Projects and Gauge Conversion Projects etc.

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 ..P/2

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.

Since 2014, there has been substantial increase in fund allocation for New  Line, Gauge Conversion and Doubling Projects and commensurate  commissioning  of  Projects  in  Indian  Railways.  The Average  Annual  Budget  allocation  for  these  works  during  2014-19 increased to ` 26,026  crore  per  year  from ` 11,527  crore per  year during 2009-14 (126%  more  than average annual budget allocation during 2009-14). The Annual Budget allocation increased to ` 39,836 crore  in  Financial  Year  2019-20  (246%  more  than  average  annual budget  allocation  during  2009-14), ` 43,626  crore  in  Financial  Year 2020-21  (278%  more  than  the  Average  Annual  Budget  allocation during 2009-14) and ` 56,716 crore for Financial year 2021-22 (392% more  than  average  annual  budget  allocation  during  2009-14).  For Financial Year 2022-23, highest-ever budget outlay of ` 67,001 crore has  been  provided  for  these  works,  which  is  481%  more  than average annual budget outlay of 2009-14.

During  2014-22,  across  Indian  Railway,  20,628  km  sections  (3,970 km New Line, 5,507 km Gauge Conversion and 11,151 km Doubling) has  been  commissioned  at  an  average  of  2,579  km/year  which  is 70%  more  than  the  average  commissioning  during  2009-14  (1,520 km/year).

(b) & (c):The construction of Lalitpur-Singrauli New line is a part of  Lalitpur-Satna,  Rewa-Singrauli  &  Mahoba-Khajuraho  (541  Km) new  line  project,  which  was  included  in  the  budget  1997-98.  The cost of the project is ` 8766 crore. An expenditure of ` 2858 crore has been incurred upto March, 2022. An outlay of ` 700 crore has been provided  for  this  project  for  the  year  2022-23.  Approximately,  135 hectares  of  Private  land  in  patches  is  being  acquired  in  SatnaNagod-Panna section and work has been taken up on the available land.

Land acquisition and its demarcation is done by Revenue Authorities of State Government and compensation for land acquired by the Railways  is deposited with  concerned  State Government.  Railways  is  closely  and  regularly  following  up  with State Governments and concerned authorities for expeditious land acquisition/demarcation for Infrastructure projects.

The  completion  of  any  Railway  project(s)  depends  on  various factors  like  quick  land  acquisition  by  State  Government,  forest clearance by officials of forest department, deposition of cost share by State Government in cost sharing projects, priority  of projects, shifting  of  infringing  utilities,  statutory  clearances  from  various authorities,  geological  and  topographical  conditions  of  area,  law and order situation in the area of project(s) 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 and cost of the project(s). With above constraints, every effort is being made to execute the project(s) expeditiously.

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