Lok Sabha Question No. 702 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2024-02-07
Subject: Pending Railway Projects
Ministry: RAILWAYS
Asked by: S.R. Parthiban

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF RAILWAYS

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 702 TO BE ANSWERED ON 07.02.2024

## PENDING RAILWAY PROJECTS

702.  SHRI PARTHIBAN S.R.:

Will the Minister of RAILWAYS  be pleased to state:

- (a) the details of the pending railway projects in Tamil Nadu;
- (b) the sanctioned cost and the funds released so far for these pending railway projects;
- (c) the  estimated  timeline  for  completion  of  these  pending  railway projects;
- (d) whether the Railways has received proposals for any railway project from the Tamil Nadu Government; and
- (e) if so, the details thereof and the action taken by the Railways in this regard?

## ANSWER

MINISTER OF RAILWAYS, COMMUNICATIONS 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 UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 702 BY SHRI PARTHIBAN S.R. TO BE ANSWERED IN LOK SABHA ON 07.02.2024 REGARDING PENDING RAILWAY PROJECTS

(a) to (e): Railway  projects  are  sanctioned  and  taken  up  Zonal  Railwaywise and not State-wise as the Indian Railway's projects may span across various  State  boundaries.  However,  as  on  01.04.23,  23  projects  (09  new line, 03 Gauge conversion and 11 doubling) of total length 2,848 Km costing 35,580 crore falling fully/partly in the State of Tamil  Nadu  are in planning/approval/construction stage.

- (i) 9  New Line  projects covering  total  length  of  871  km  at  a  cost  of 14,682 crore.
- (ii) 3 Gauge Conversion projects covering total length of 748 km at a cost of  5,224 crore.
- (iii) 11 Doubling projects covering total length of 1,229 km at a cost of 15,674 crore.

Railway projects in Tamil Nadu are covered by Southern Railway (SR), South  Central  Railway  (SCR)  and  South  Western  Railway  (SWR)  zone  of Indian  Railways.  Zone-wise  details  of  Railway  projects  including  cost, expenditure  and  outlay  are  made  available  in  public  domain  on  Indian

Railways website.

Since 2014, there has been substantial increase in Budget allocation and  commensurate  commissioning of projects. Budget allocation for infrastructure and safety projects falling fully/ partly in the State of Tamil Nadu has been enhanced to highest at  6,080 crore this year which is nearly seven times of the budget allocation of  922 crore in 2013-14.

Average annual Budget allocation for Infrastructure and safety works, falling fully/ partly in the State of Tamil Nadu is as under:-

| Period   | Average Outlay   | Increase w.r.t. average allocation of 2009-14   |
|----------|------------------|-------------------------------------------------|
| 2009-14  | 879 crore/year   | -                                               |
| 2023-24  | 6,080 crore      | nearly 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.  State  Government  assesses  the compensation amount and advises to Railway. On receipt of demand from State Government, Railway deposits compensation amount with concerned District  Land  acquisition  Authority.  Execution  of  important  infrastructure projects falling fully/partly in the State of Tamil Nadu is held up due to delay in  land  acquisition  and  only  about  624  Ha  land  has  been  acquired  out  of total  requirement  of  about  1832  Ha.  Railway  had  initiated  efforts  for acquisition  of  land  but  could  not  succeed  in  acquiring  land  for  projects. Support  of  the  Government  of  Tamil  Nadu  is  needed  to  expedite  the  land acquisition.

The completion of any Railway project depends on various factors like quick land acquisition by State Government, forest clearance by officials of forest department, shifting of infringing utilities, statutory clearances from various  authorities,  geological  and  topographical  conditions  of  area,  law and order situation in the area of project site, number of working months in a year for particular project site due to climatic conditions etc.  All these factors  affect  the  completion  time  of  the  project.  With  above  constraints, every effort is being made to execute the project(s) expeditiously.

Railway  projects  are  taken  up  Zonal  Railway-wise  on  the  basis  of remunerativeness,  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 receipt of such Proposals /suggestions is a continuous and dynamic process, centralized compendium of such requests is not maintained.

Total 20 surveys (04 New line and 16 doubling) of total length 1,754 Km  falling  fully/partly  in  the  State  of  Tamil  Nadu  have  been  sanctioned during  last  three  years  (i.e.  2020-2021,  2021-2022,  2022-23  and  current Financial Year 2023-24).

*****