Lok Sabha Question No. 3699 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2024-12-18
Subject: Ongoing Railway Projects in Tamil Nadu, Gujarat and Maharashtra
Ministry: RAILWAYS
Asked by: Shri Balwant Baswant Wankhade, Shri Rajesh Naranbhai Chudasama, Shri Raja A, Shri Sanjay Uttamrao Deshmukh

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF RAILWAYS

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 3699

## TO BE ANSWERED ON 18.12.2024

## ONGOING RAILWAY PROJECTS IN TAMIL NADU, GUJARAT AND MAHARASHTRA

## 3699.  SHRI RAJA A:

SHRI CHUDASAMA RAJESHBHAI NARANBHAI:

SHRI SANJAY UTTAMRAO DESHMUKH:

SHRI BALWANT BASWANT WANKHADE:

Will the Minister of RAILWAYS be pleased to state:

- (a) the  details  and  the  present  status  of  ongoing  railway  projects  in Tamil Nadu and Gujarat, including those announced in the last five General Budgets;
- (b) the details of railway projects that have not been commenced though announced, project-wise, and the reasons for the delay;
- (c) the  details  of  funds  allocated/spent,  as  well  as  unspent  funds  for these projects in the last three years, project-wise and the reasons for any funds remaining unutilized;
- (d) the time-frame by which these projects would be operational, projectwise; and
- (e) the  steps  taken/being  taken  by  the  Government  to  avoid  further escalation in the cost of the said Projects?

## ANSWER

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

(SHRI ASHWINI VAISHNAW)

(a) to (e):   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, socio-economic considerations etc. depending upon throwforward of ongoing projects and overall availability of funds.

## Tamil Nadu:-

Railway  infrastructure  projects  falling  fully/partly  in  the  State  of  Tamil Nadu  are  covered  under  Southern  Railway  (SR),  South  Central  Railway (SCR) 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 Railway's website.

As on 01.04.2024, 22 Railways projects including those announced in last five years (10 New Line, 03 Gauge Conversion and 09 Doubling) of total length 2,587 Km, costing ₹33,467 Crore, falling fully/partly in the State of Tamil Nadu, are at various stages of planning and implementation, out of which  665  Km  length  has  been  commissioned  and  an  expenditure  of ₹7,153 Crore  has  been  incurred  upto  March' 2024.  The summary  is  as

## under:-

| Plan Head               |   No. of project s |   Total Length (in Km) |   Length Commissioned (in Km) |   Expenditure upto March 2024 (₹in Cr.) |
|-------------------------|--------------------|------------------------|-------------------------------|-----------------------------------------|
| New Line                |                 10 |                    872 |                            24 |                                    1223 |
| Gauge Conversion        |                  3 |                    748 |                           604 |                                    3267 |
| Doubling /Multitracking |                  9 |                    967 |                            37 |                                    2664 |
| Total                   |                 22 |                   2587 |                           665 |                                    7153 |

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

| Period   | Outlay                           |
|----------|----------------------------------|
| 2009-14  | ₹879 crore/year                  |
| 2024-25  | ₹6,362 crore (more than 7 times) |

Though fund allocation has increased manifold but pace of execution of project  is  dependent  on  expeditious  land  acquisition.  Railway  acquires the  land  through  State  Government  and  the  completion  of  a  railway projects is dependent of land acquisition. Execution of important infrastructure projects falling  fully/partly  in  the  State of  Tamil  Nadu  are held up due to delay in land acquisition. Status of land acquisition in the State of Tamil Nadu is as under:

| Total Land required for Projects in Tamil Nadu   | 3389 Ha       |
|--------------------------------------------------|---------------|
| Land Acquired                                    | 866 Ha (26%)  |
| Balance Land to be acquired                      | 2523 Ha (74%) |

Government of India is geared up to execute projects, however success depends upon  the  support  of  Government  of  Tamil Nadu.  For  instance, …4/-

details of some major projects which are delayed due to land acquisition are as under:-

|   SN | Name of the project                         |   Total land required (in Ha) |   Land acquired (in Ha) |   Balance Land to be acquired (in Ha) |
|------|---------------------------------------------|-------------------------------|-------------------------|---------------------------------------|
|    1 | Tindivanam -Tiruvannamalai new line (71 Km) |                           273 |                      33 |                                   240 |
|    2 | Attiputtu - Puttur New Line (88 Km)         |                           189 |                       0 |                                   189 |
|    3 | Morappur - Dharmapuri (36 Km)               |                            93 |                       0 |                                    93 |
|    4 | Mannargudi - Pattukkottai (41 Km)           |                           152 |                       0 |                                   152 |
|    5 | Thanjavur - Pattukottai (52 Km)             |                           196 |                       0 |                                   196 |

## Gujarat:-

Railway infrastructure projects, falling fully/partly in the State of Gujarat, are covered under Western Railway and North Western Railway zones of Indian  Railway.  Zone-wise  details  of  Railway  projects,  including  cost, expenditure  and  outlay  are  made  available  in  public  domain  on  Indian Railway's website.

As on 01.04.2024, 42 Railway projects (6 New Line, 22 Gauge Conversion and  14  Doubling),  of  total  length  of  2,947  Km,  costing  ₹30,826  crore, falling fully/partly in the State of Gujarat, are at various stages of planning and implementation, out of which, 826 Km length has been commissioned and an expenditure of ₹9,336 crore has been  incurred  upto  March, 2024. …5/-

## 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 Line                 |                 6 |                    537 |                           105 |                                     3332 |
| Gauge Conversion         |                22 |                   1634 |                           671 |                                     4655 |
| Doubling/ Multitrackin g |                14 |                    776 |                            50 |                                     1349 |
| Total                    |                42 |                   2947 |                           826 |                                     9336 |

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

| Period   | Outlay                         |
|----------|--------------------------------|
| 2009-14  | ₹589 crore/year                |
| 2024-25  | ₹8,743 crore (nearly 15 times) |

Construction works on the flagship high speed bullet train project have gathered  momentum  in  Gujarat.  Now,  100%  land  acquisition  has  been completed.  Construction  of  viaduct  for  225  Km,  out  of  about  352  Km section  of  this  project  falling  in  the  State  of  Gujarat,  has  also  been completed.

Western  Dedicated  Freight  Corridor  (DFC)  also  passes  through  Gujarat. About 565 route km of Western DFC is situated in Gujarat, which is about 37% of overall route length of Western DFC. Full project length falling in the State of Gujarat has been commissioned.

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) prioritization 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.

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