Lok Sabha Question No. 155 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2022-02-02
Subject: Stalled Railway Projects
Ministry: RAILWAYS
Asked by: Chandra Prakash Choudhary

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF RAILWAYS

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 155 TO BE ANSWERED ON 02.02.2022

## STALLED RAILWAY PROJECTS

155. SHRI CHANDRA PRAKASH CHOUDHARY:

Will the Minister of RAILWAYS be pleased to state:

- (a) whether the Government has prepared any scheme to complete the railway projects stalled by the State Governments due to lack of budget, at the earliest;
- (b) if so, the details thereof and if not, the reasons therefor; and
- (c) the  details  of  the  railway  projects  stalled  by  the  States/UTs including  Parasnath-Madhuban  railway  line  in  Jharkhand  due  to lack of budget; State/project-wise?

## 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.  155  BY  SHRI  CHANDRA  PRAKASH CHOUDHARY  TO  BE  ANSWERED  IN  LOK  SABHA  ON  02.02.2022 REGARDING STALLED RAILWAY PROJECTS

(a)  &  (b):    As  on  01.04.2021  across  Indian  Railways,  484  Railway projects  (187  New  Line,  46  Gauge  Conversion  and  251  Doubling)  of 51,165  Km  length,  costing approx. ` 7.53  lakh  crore  are  in  different stages of planning/sanction/execution, out of which, 10,638 Km length has been commissioned and an expenditure of approx. ` 2.14 lakh crore has been incurred upto March, 2021.

Out of these projects, 52 projects (43 New Line, 01 Gauge Conversion and 08 Doubling) of 6,560 km length, costing ` 1 lakh crore approximately have been taken up on cost sharing with different State Governments.

Execution of cost sharing projects sometimes get delayed on account of delay in receipt of Cost sharing amounts from State Governments. Railways is regularly following up with the concerned State Governments  for  deposition  of  their  outstanding  cost  share  and handing  over  of  land  for  expeditious  completion  of  these  projects. Upon request made by Ministry of Railways, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has agreed for a Payment Security Mechanism (PSM) to ensure State's  contribution   towards  Railway  Infrastructure  projects  being

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implemented on cost sharing  basis.  For  this  purpose,  Railways  have requested  State  Governments  for  a  tripartite  agreement  between Ministry of Railways, State Governments and RBI under  which  State Governments  would  execute  Direct  Debit  mandate  which  will  be registered  with  RBI.  The  Direct  Debit  under  this  mandate  shall  be honored by RBI subject to availability of clear and sufficient balance in the account of State Government.

(c):  Parasnath  -  Madhuban  -  Giridih  (49  km)  new  line  project  was included in the Budget 2018-19 at a cost of ` 902.86 Cr. This project is being  executed  on  50:50  cost  sharing  basis  with  the  state  Govt.  of Jharkhand.  Land  plan  is  under  preparation.  Further  execution  of  the project  is  possible  only  after  acquisition  of  requisite  land  and  cost sharing by state Government of Jharkhand.

The  project-wise  details  of  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.

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  of  the  project(s).  However, Railways  is  making  all  the  efforts  for  expeditious  completion  of projects.

Since 2014, there has been substantial increase in Budget allocation and  commensurate  commissioning  of  projects.  The  Average  Annual Budget  allocation in the Indian Railways for  New  Line,  Gauge Conversion  and  Doubling  works  during  2014-19  has  increased  to ` 26,026  crore  per  year  from ` 11,527  crore  per  year  during  2009-14, which is 126% more than average annual  budget  outlay  of  2009-14. The  Annual  budget  allocation for these Projects  for  Financial  Year 2019-20  was ` 39,836 crore  (246%  more  than average annual budget allocation during 2009-14) and ` 43,626 crore in Financial Year 2020-21 (278% more than the Average Annual Budget allocation during 200914). For Financial year 2021-22, highest-ever budget outlay of ` 52,398 crore  has  been  provided  for  these  works,  which  is  355%  more  than average annual budget outlay of 2009-14.

During  2014-21,  17,720  km  section  (3,681  km  New  Line,  4,871  km Gauge Conversion and 9,168 km Doubling) has been commissioned at an  average  of  2,531  km/year  which  is  67%  more  than  the  average commissioning during 2009-14 (1520 km/year).

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