Lok Sabha Question No. 295 (STARRED), answered on 2022-03-23
Subject: Railway Projects in Rajasthan
Ministry: RAILWAYS
Asked by: Ramcharan Bohra

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF RAILWAYS

## LOK SABHA STARRED QUESTION NO. 295 TO BE ANSWERED ON 23.03.2022

## RAILWAY PROJECTS IN RAJASTHAN

†* 295.  SHRI RAMCHARAN BOHRA:

Will the Minister of RAILWAYS be pleased to state:

- (a) the  present  status  of  ongoing  railway  projects  in  the  country, including  Rajasthan  which  are  pending,  State/zone/project-wise and the dates since when these projects are pending;
- (b) the  number  of  projects  running  behind  schedule  including  the reasons therefor, project-wise along with the extent to which the cost of each pending project has gone up;
- (c) the  amount  of  funds  allocated/spent  on  these  projects  during each of the last three years and the current year;
- (d) the  State-wise  number  of  projects  held  up/lying  pending  due  to shortage of funds;
- (e) the time-limit fixed for completing the said projects and the steps taken by the Railways in this regard; and
- (f) the details of the scheme formulated by the Government to check train accidents?

## ANSWER

MINISTER OF RAILWAYS, COMMUNICATIONS AND ELECTRONICS & INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

(SHRI ASHWINI VAISHNAW)

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

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STATEMENT REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO PARTS (a) to (f) OF STARRED QUESTION NO. 295 BY SHRI RAMCHARAN BOHRA TO BE ANSWERED IN  LOK  SABHA  ON  23.03.2022  REGARDING  RAILWAY  PROJECTS  IN RAJASTHAN.

(a) to (e): The Railway projects are sanctioned Zonal Railway wise and not  State  wise  as  the  Railways'  projects  may  span  across  various State boundaries.  As on 01.04.2021 across Indian Railways including Rajasthan, 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.

As on 01.04.2021, 28 Projects (11 New Lines, 5 Gauge Conversion and 12  Doubling)  of  a  total  length  of  5,069  km,  costing ` 56,261  crore, falling fully/partly in Rajasthan are under different stages of planning/ approval/ execution, out of which 769 Km length has been commissioned and an expenditure of ` 9,690 crore has been incurred upto March, 2021.

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.

Since 2014, there has been substantial increase in Budget allocation and commensurate commissioning of projects across Indian Railways. The Average Annual Budget allocation in the Indian Railways for New Line, Gauge Conversion and Doubling projects during 2014-19 has been 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 2009-14).  For  Financial  year  2021-22,  budget  outlay  of ` 52,398  crore has  been  provided  for  these  projects,  which  is  355%  more  than average annual budget outlay of 2009-14. For Financial year 2022-23, highest  ever  budget  outlay  of ` 67,001  crore  has  been  proposed  for these projects, which is 481% more than average annual budget outlay of 2009-14.

Since 2014, there has been substantial increase in fund allocation and commensurate commissioning of projects falling fully/partly in Rajasthan. Average Annual Budget allocation for Infrastructure projects  &  safety  works,  falling  fully/  partly  in  State  of  Rajasthan, during 2014-19 has been enhanced to ` 2,951 crore per year from ` 682 crore  per  year  during  2009-14,  which  is  333%  more  than  Average Annual  Budget  allocation  during  2009-14.  These  allocations  have increased to ` 4,686 crore in Financial Year 2019-20 (587% more than the Average Annual Budget allocation of 2009-14) and ` 4,582 crore in Financial  Year  2020-21(572%  more  than  the  Average  Annual  Budget allocation of 2009-14).

For  Financial  Year  2021-22,  Budget  outlay  of ` 6,006  crore  has  been provided  for  these  projects,  which  is  781%  more  than  the  Average Annual Budget outlay of 2009-14 ( ` 682 crore per year). For Financial Year  2022-23,  highest ever budget  outlay  of ` 7565 crore  has  been proposed for these Projects, which is  1009% more than the Average Annual Budget outlay of 2009-14 ( ` 682 crore per year).

During 2014-21, across the Indian Railways,  17,720 km length (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).

During 2014-21, 1947 Km length (176 km of New line, 637 km Gauge conversion  and  1134  km  Doubling)  falling  fully/partly  in  the  State  of Rajasthan has been commissioned at an average rate 278.14 km per year,  which  is  74%  more  than  commissioning  during  2009-14  (159.6 Km/Yr.).

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 and last mile connectivity projects. Budget outlay has been provided to the projects in a rationalized manner and budget has been allotted to the projects which are in advance stage of completion,  priority projects,  important

New  Line & National projects, executable & important Gauge conversion  projects  and  the  projects  which  are  important  from  the throughput  enhancement  considerations.  Thus,  focused  attention  is given  in  fund  allotment,  rather  than  thinly  spreading  the  resources without commensurate results.

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) due to which the confirmed time frame for completion of projects cannot be  ascertained  at  this  stage.  However,  Railways  is  making  all  the efforts for expeditious completion of projects.

Various steps being taken by the Government for effective and speedy implementation of rail projects include (i) prioritisation of projects (ii) substantial  increase  in  allocation  of  funds  on  priority  projects  (iii) delegation of powers at field level (iv) close  monitoring  of  progress of  project  at  various  levels,  and  (v)  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.

## (f):  Various steps have been taken by the Government to check train accidents. Some of these are enumerated below:

-  Indian  Railway  has  developed  its  own  indigenous  Automatic Train  Protection  (ATP)  Systems  called  Kavach  for  enhancing safety of running trains. KAVACH has been developed indigenously  by  RDSO  in  association  with  three  Indian  Vendors and  it  has  been  adopted  as  our  National  Automatic  Train Protection (ATP) System. KAVACH will not only aid Loco Pilot to avoid  Signal  Passing  At  Danger  (SPAD)  and  over  speeding  but also  help  in  train  running  during  inclement  weather  such  as dense  fog.  Thus,  Kavach  will  enhance  safety  and  efficiency  of train operations.
- centralized operation  of  points  and  signals  are  being  provided  to  eliminate accidents  due  to  human  failure.  These  systems  have  been
-  Electrical/Electronic Interlocking System with provided at 6297 stations as on 31.01.2022;
-  Track Circuiting of stations to enhance safety for verification of track occupancy by electrical means instead of human element has been provided at 6273 stations upto 31.01.2022;
- Axle Counter for Automatic clearance of Block Section (BPAC) to ensure  complete  arrival  of  train  without  manual  intervention before granting line clear to the next train have been provided on
-  5958 block sections upto  31.01.2022;

-  Interlocking  of  Level  Crossing  Gates  (LC)  has  been  provided  at 10731 Level Crossing Gates upto 31.01.2022 for enhancing safety at LC Gate;
-  Rashtriya  Rail  Sanraksha  Kosh  (RRSK)  has  been  introduced  in 2017-18  for  replacement/renewal/upgradation  of  critical  safety assets;
-  All locomotives are equipped with Vigilance Control Devices(VCD) to ensure alertness of Loco Pilots;
-  Retro-reflective sigma (Σ) boards are being provided on the mast which is located two OHE masts prior to the signals in electrified territories to warn the crew about signal ahead when visibility is low due to foggy weather;
-  A GPS based Fog Pass device is being provided to loco pilots in fog  affected  areas  which  enables  loco  pilots  to  know  the distance of the approaching landmarks like signals, level crossing gates etc.;
-  Modern track structure consisting  of  60kg,  90  Ultimate  Tensile Strength (UTS) rails, Pre-stressed Concrete Sleeper (PSC) Normal/Wide  base  sleepers  with  elastic  fastening,  fanshaped layout turnout on PC sleepers, Steel Channel/H-beam Sleepers on girder bridges is used, while carrying out primary track renewals;

-  Patrolling  of  railway  tracks  is  done  to  look  out  for  weld/rail fractures for ensuring safety;
-  Ultrasonic Flaw Detection (USFD) testing of rails to detect flaws and timely removal of defective rails;
-  With a view to provide safer and more comfortable journey to the travelling passengers, conventional Integral Coach Factory (ICF) type coaches are being gradually replaced with Linke Hofmann Busch  (LHB)  coaches  in  a  phased  manner.  Production  Units  of Indian  Railways  have  stopped  the  manufacturing  of  ICF  type coaches from 2018-19 onwards;
-  Provision  of  fire  detection  and  suppression  system  in  newly manufactured Power Cars and Pantry Cars and Fire and Smoke detection system in newly manufactured AC coaches;
-  All  Unmanned  Level  Crossings  (UMLCs)  on  Broad  Gauge  (BG) route on Indian Railway have been eliminated;
-  Elimination  of  Manned  Level  Crossing  gates  by  closure  and providing Road Under Bridge (RUB) and Road Over Bridge (ROB) at location;

-  Mechanization  of  track  maintenance  is  being  carried  out  to reduce  human  errors.  Track  management  system  has  been introduced on Indian Railways for development of database and decision support system and to decide rationalize maintenance requirement and optimize inputs.

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