Lok Sabha Question No. 2272 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2025-03-12
Subject: Expansion of Railways in Chhattisgarh
Ministry: RAILWAYS
Asked by: Shri Brijmohan Agrawal

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA

## MINISTRY OF RAILWAYS

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO.2272

## TO BE ANSWERED ON 12.03.2025

## EXPANSION OF RAILWAYS IN CHHATTISGARH

†2272.    SHRI BRIJMOHAN AGRAWAL:

Will the Minister of RAILWAYS be pleased to state :

- (a) the detail of the project/work/trains that have  been approved for development of railways in Chhattisgarh during the last five years;
- (b) the details of the work completed and pending as on date;
- (c)  the  reasons  for  pendency  of  works  and  the  time  by  which pending works are likely to be completed; and
- (d)  whether there are any proposals/plans to start new trains from Chhattisgarh  including  Raipur  -  Jabalpur,  Raipur-Indore,  RaipurHyderabad, Raipur-Jaipur, if so, the time by which these are likely to be  started,  if  not,  whether  the  Government  will  consider  in  this direction?

## ANSWER

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

## (SHRI ASHWINI VAISHNAW)

(a) to (c) Railway projects are surveyed/ sanctioned/executed Zonal Railway wise and not State-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, socioeconomic  considerations  etc.  depending  upon  throwforward  of ongoing projects and overall availability of funds.

Zone-wise/year-wise  details  of  all  Railway  projects  including  cost, expenditure  and  outlay  are  made  available  in  public  domain  on Indian Railway's website.

In last 5 years i.e. 2019-20, 2020-21, 2021-22, 2022-23, 2023-24 and current financial year 2024-25, 14 projects covering a length of 206 kms costing ₹2683 crore falling fully/partly in the State of Chhattisgarh have been sanctioned.

As  on  01.04.2024,  25  projects(08  New  Lines  and  17  Doubling), covering  total  length  of  2,731  Km  length,  costing  ₹37,018  crore, falling fully/partly in the state of Chhattisgarh, are at various stages of    planning  and  implementation,  out  of  which  882  Km  length  has been commissioned and an expenditure of ₹14,919 crore has been incurred upto March' 2024. The status of the work is summarized as:

| Category                 |   No. of projects |   Total Length NL/GC/DL (in Km) |   Length Commissioned till March'24 (Km) |   Total Expupto Mar'24 (₹ in Cr) |
|--------------------------|-------------------|---------------------------------|------------------------------------------|----------------------------------|
| New Lines                |                 8 |                            1358 |                                      184 |                             6154 |
| Doubling / Multitracking |                17 |                            1373 |                                      698 |                             8765 |
| Total                    |                25 |                            2731 |                                      882 |                            14919 |

Budget  allocation  for  infrastructure  projects  and  safety  works falling fully/partly in the State of Chhattisgarh is as under:

| Period    | Outlay                         |
|-----------|--------------------------------|
| 2009-2014 | ₹311 Cr/year                   |
| 2024-2025 | ₹6922 Cr ( More than 22 times) |

The details of Commissioning/laying of new track falling fully/partly in the State of Chhattisgarh during 2009-14 and 2014-24 is as under:

| Period   | Total Length Commissioned   | Average Length Commissioned         |
|----------|-----------------------------|-------------------------------------|
| 2009-14  | 32 Km                       | 6.4 Km/Year                         |
| 2014-24  | 999 Km                      | 99.9 Km/Year ( more than 15 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.

Various  steps  taken  by  the  Government  for  speedy  approval  and implementation  of  Railway  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.

(d)  As  the  Railway  network  straddles  across  State  boundaries, trains  are  introduced  as  per  network  requirement  across  such boundaries.  However,  to  cater  to  the  needs  of  passengers  of stations  located  in  the  State  of  Chhattisgarh,  08  new  trains  have been introduced and 08 services extended, on originating/terminating basis, during the last five years (i.e. 2020-21 to 2024-25 upto February, 2025). Besides, introduction of new train services is an ongoing process on Indian Railways, subject to traffic justification, operational feasibility, etc.

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