Lok Sabha Question No. 223 (STARRED), answered on 2024-12-11
Subject: Railway Connectivity to all Districts of Maharashtra and Bihar
Ministry: RAILWAYS
Asked by: Dr. Shrikant Eknath Shinde, Shri Rajesh Verma

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF RAILWAYS

## LOK SABHA STARRED QUESTION NO. 223

## TO BE ANSWERED ON 11.12.2024

## RAILWAY CONNECTIVITY TO ALL DISTRICTS OF MAHARASHTRA AND BIHAR

- *223. SHRI RAJESH VERMA: DR. SHRIKANT EKNATH SHINDE:

Will the Minister of RAILWAYS be pleased to state:

- (a) whether the Government has formulated any plans  to ensure railway connectivity to all districts of Maharashtra and Bihar;
- (b) if so, the current status thereof and progress made towards achieving railway connectivity to all districts;
- (c) the  criteria  and  prioritization  process  used  for  extending  railway connectivity to new districts in the said States;
- (d) the details of challenges, if any, faced in enhancing railway coverage across these States; and
- (e) the Government's plans and initiatives to increase railway connectivity  and  coverage  in  said  States  including  any  new  railway projects  or  extensions  proposed  and  the  socio  -  economic  benefits anticipated for these States?

## ANSWER

MINISTER OF RAILWAYS, INFORMATION & BROADCASTING AND ELECTRONICS & INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

(SHRI ASHWINI VAISHNAW)

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

*****

STATEMENT REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO PARTS (a) TO (e) OF LOK SABHA STARRED QUESTION NO. 223 TO BE ANSWERED ON 11.12.2024.

(a) to (e): Railway projects are surveyed/sanctioned/executed Zonal Railway wise and not State-wise/District-wise as the Railway projects may span across State boundaries. Railway projects are sanctioned on the basis of  remunerativeness,  traffic  projections,  last  mile  connectivity,  missing links  and  alternate  routes,  augmentation  of  congested/saturated  lines, demands  raised  by  State  Governments,  Central  Ministries,  Members  of Parliament, other public representatives, Railway's own operational requirement, socio-economic considerations etc. depending upon throwforward of ongoing projects and overall availability of funds.

As on 01.04.2024, across Indian Railways including Maharashtra and Bihar,  488  Railway  infrastructure  projects  (187  New  Line,  40  Gauge Conversion  and  261  Doubling)  of  total  length  44,488  Km,  costing approx. ₹7.44 lakh crore are in planning/approval/construction stage, out of which, 12,045  Km length  has  been  commissioned  and  an  expenditure  of  approx. ₹2.92 lakh crore has been incurred upto March, 2024. The summary is as under:-

| Category               |   No. of Project s | Total Length NL/GC/DL (in Km)   | Length Commission ed till Mar'24 (in Km)   | Total Exp upto Mar'24 (₹ in Cr.)   |
|------------------------|--------------------|---------------------------------|--------------------------------------------|------------------------------------|
| New Lines              |                187 | 20,199                          | 2,855                                      | 1,60,022                           |
| Gauge Conversion       |                 40 | 4,719                           | 2,972                                      | 18,706                             |
| Doubling/Multitracking |                261 | 19,570                          | 6,218                                      | 1,13,742                           |
| Total                  |                488 | 44,488                          | 12,045                                     | 2,92,470                           |

Contd......2/-

## MAHARASHTRA

Railway  infrastructure  projects  falling  fully/partly  in  the  State  of Maharashtra are covered under Central Railway (CR), South Central Railway (SCR), Western Railway (WR), South East Central Railway (SECR) and South Western  Railway  (SWR)  zones  of  Indian  Railways.  Zonal  Railway  wise details of Railway projects including cost, expenditure and outlay are made available in public domain on Indian Railways website.

During the last three years and current year, 91 No. Surveys (New line, Gauge  Conversion  and  Doubling/multi  tracking)  of  total  length  7,458  km falling fully/partly in the state of Maharashtra have been sanctioned.

As  on  01.04.2024,  41  Railway  projects  (16  New  Lines,  02  Gauge Conversions and 23 Doubling), of total length of 5,877 Km, costing ₹81,580 crore falling fully/partly in the State of Maharashtra, are at various stages of planning  and  implementation,  out  of  which  1,926  Km  length  has  been commissioned and an expenditure of ₹31,236 crore has been incurred upto March, 2024.

The status of work is summarized as under:-

| Category                |   No. of projects | Total Length (in Km)   | Length Commissioned (in Km)   | Expenditure upto March, 2024 (₹ in Cr.)   |
|-------------------------|-------------------|------------------------|-------------------------------|-------------------------------------------|
| New Lines               |                16 | 2,017                  | 166                           | 8,529                                     |
| Gauge Conversion        |                 2 | 609                    | 312                           | 3,332                                     |
| Doubling/ Multitracking |                23 | 3,251                  | 1,448                         | 19,376                                    |
| Total                   |                41 | 5,877                  | 1,926                         | 31,236                                    |

Contd.…3/-

Average Budget allocation for Infrastructure projects and other works, falling fully/ partly in Maharashtra is as under:-

| Period   | Outlay                               |
|----------|--------------------------------------|
| 2009-14  | ₹ 1,171 crore/year                   |
| 2024-25  | ₹ 15,940 crore ( more than 13 times) |

Commissioning of sections (New Line, Gauge Conversion and Doubling) falling fully/partly in the State of Maharashtra during 2009-14 and 2014-2024 is as under:-

| Period   | New track    | Average commissioning of new    |
|----------|--------------|---------------------------------|
|          | Commissioned | tracks                          |
| 2009-14  | 292 Km       | 58.4 Km/year                    |
| 2014-24  | 1,830 Km     | 183 Km/year (more than 3 times) |

Further,  Construction  works  on  the  flagship  High  speed  bullet  train project have gathered momentum in Maharashtra. Now 100% land acquisition has been completed. Works of bridges, aqueducts etc. have been taken up. Orders for 3  TBMs to  carry  out  about  21  Km  tunneling  under  sea  have  also been  placed.  Meanwhile,  all  preparatory  works  required  for  the  working  of TBMs such as construction of shafts etc. have also been taken up.

Western DFC also passes through Maharashtra. About 178 route Km of western DFC is situated in Maharashtra which is about 12% of overall route length  of  western  DFC.  76  Km  of  this  project  from  New  Gholvad  to  New Vaitarna in Maharashtra has already been commissioned. Balance works have been  taken  up.  Connectivity  of  WDFC  to  JNPT  will  boost  the  capacity  to handle cargo and container traffic from port to Delhi NCR.

## BIHAR

Railway infrastructure projects falling fully/partly in the State of Bihar are covered under East Central Railway (ECR), Eastern Railway (ER), North Eastern  Railway  (NER)  and  Northeast  Frontier  Railway  (NFR)  Zones  of Indian  Railways.  Zonal  Railway  wise  details of  Railway  projects  including cost, expenditure and outlay are made available in public domain.

During the last three years and current year, 72 No. Surveys (New line, Gauge  Conversion  and  Doubling/Multitracking)  of  total  length  3,889  km falling fully/partly in the state of Bihar have been sanctioned

As  on  01.04.2024,  55  Railway  projects  (31  New  Lines,  02  Gauge Conversions and 22 Doubling), of total length of 5,064 Km, costing ₹79,356 crore  falling  fully/partly  in  the  State  of  Bihar,  are  at  various  stages  of planning  and  implementation,  out  of  which,  1,194  Km  length  has  been commissioned and an expenditure of ₹ 26,983 crore has been incurred upto March 2024. The summary is as under:-

| Category                |   No. of projects | Total Length (in Km)   | Length Commissioned (in Km)   | Exp upto March 2024 (₹ in cr.)   |
|-------------------------|-------------------|------------------------|-------------------------------|----------------------------------|
| New Lines               |                31 | 2,712                  | 464                           | 13,629                           |
| Gauge                   |                 2 | 348                    | 288                           | 1,520                            |
| Doubling/ Multitracking |                22 | 2,005                  | 442                           | 11,834                           |
| Total                   |                55 | 5,064                  | 1,194                         | 26,983                           |

Contd.…..5/-

Since 2014, there has been substantial increase in Budget allocation and commensurate commissioning of projects. Annual Budget allocation for Infrastructure and other works, falling fully/partly in the State of Bihar is as under:-

| Period   | Outlay                           |
|----------|----------------------------------|
| 2009-14  | ₹ 1,132 crore/year               |
| 2024-25  | ₹ 10,033 crore ( Nearly 9 times) |

Commissioning of sections (New Line, Gauge Conversion and Doubling)  falling  fully/partly  in  the  State  of  Bihar  during  2009-14  and  20142024 is as under:-

| Period   | New track    | Average commissioning of new tracks   |
|----------|--------------|---------------------------------------|
|          | Commissioned |                                       |
| 2009-14  | 318 Km       | 63.6 Km/year                          |
| 2014-24  | 1,669 Km     | 166.9 Km/year (Nearly 3 times)        |

The completion of any Railway project 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.

*****