Lok Sabha Question No. 1079 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2023-07-26
Subject: Railway Projects in Maharashtra
Ministry: RAILWAYS
Asked by: Gajanan Chandrakant Kirtikar, Hemant Tukaram Godse

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF RAILWAYS

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 1079 TO BE ANSWERED ON 26.07.2023

## RAILWAY PROJECTS IN MAHARASHTRA

†1079. SHRI GAJANAN KIRTIKAR: SHRI HEMANT TUKARAM GODSE:

Will the Minister of RAILWAYS be pleased to state:

- (a) the  details  of  the  sanctioned  railway  projects  across  the country particularly in Maharashtra during each of the last six years;
- (b) the details of the projects under construction for more than ten years along with the funds sanctioned for each project particularly in Maharashtra, State-wise;
- (c) the corrective measures taken or being taken by the Railways to complete the pending railway projects;
- (d) whether any time-line has been fixed for this purpose; and
- (e) if so, the district-wise details thereof?

## 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.

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STATEMENT  REFERRED  TO  IN  REPLY  TO  PARTS  (a)  TO  (e)  OF UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 1079 BY  SHRI GAJANAN KIRTIKAR AND SHRI HEMANT TUKARAM GODSE TO BE ANSWERED IN LOK SABHA ON 26.07.2023 REGARDING RAILWAY PROJECTS IN MAHARASHTRA

(a)  The  Railway  projects  are  surveyed/  sanctioned/executed  Zonal Railway wise and not State-wise/District-wise as the Railways' projects may span across State boundaries. Railway projects are included in the Budget  subject  to  requisite  approvals.  Sanctioning  of  projects  is  a continuous and ongoing process.

During the last six years i.e. FY 2017-18, FY 2018-19, FY 2019-20, FY 2020-21, FY 2021-22, FY 2022-23 and FY 2023-24 (upto 17 th  July, 2023), 180 New Line, Gauge Conversion and Doubling Projects of a total length of 8,053 km have been sanctioned across Indian Railways including the State of Maharashtra. Zonal Railway wise details are as under:-

| Railway                    |   2017- 18 |   2018- 19 |   2019- 20 |   2020- 21 |   2021- 22 |   2022- 23 |   2023- 24(upto 17 th july) |
|----------------------------|------------|------------|------------|------------|------------|------------|-----------------------------|
| Central Railway            |          3 |          2 |          1 |          0 |          0 |          2 |                           0 |
| Eastern Railway            |          0 |          1 |          0 |          0 |          0 |          1 |                           0 |
| East Central Railway       |          4 |          3 |          0 |          0 |          0 |          6 |                           4 |
| East Coast Railway         |          2 |          0 |          2 |          0 |          0 |          4 |                           8 |
| Northern Railway           |          5 |          3 |          1 |          1 |          1 |          2 |                           0 |
| North Central Railway      |          3 |          0 |          8 |          1 |          0 |          3 |                           0 |
| North Eastern Railway      |          7 |          1 |          1 |          1 |          0 |          0 |                           0 |
| Northeast Frontier Railway |          1 |          0 |          1 |          1 |          0 |          1 |                           1 |
| North Western Railway      |          0 |          0 |          2 |          0 |          1 |          9 |                           2 |
| Southern Railway           |          4 |          1 |          1 |          0 |          1 |          3 |                           0 |

..P/2

| South Central Railway      |   1 |   0 |   0 |   0 |   1 |   5 |   3 |
|----------------------------|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|
| South Eastern Railway      |   1 |   1 |   3 |   0 |   1 |   1 |   0 |
| South East Central Railway |   0 |   2 |   0 |   0 |   0 |  12 |   0 |
| South Western Railway      |   1 |   0 |   5 |   1 |   0 |   1 |   0 |
| Western Railway            |   1 |   3 |   2 |   1 |   2 |  16 |   3 |
| West Central Railway       |   0 |   1 |   2 |   0 |   0 |   0 |   0 |

During the last six years i.e. FY 2017-18, FY 2018-19, FY 2019-20, FY 2020-21, FY 2021-22, FY 2022-23 and FY 2023-24 (upto 17th July, 2023), 12 New Line, Gauge Conversion and Doubling Projects of a total length of 1,048 km costing approx. ` 12,367 Crore have been sanctioned which fall fully/partly in the State of Maharashtra.

(b)  to  (e):  As  on  01.04.2023,  34  projects  (16  New  Lines,  02  Gauge Conversions  and  16  Doubling),  of  total  length  of  5,872  Km,  costing ` 80,184 crore falling fully/partly in Maharashtra are in planning/sanction/construction stage, out of which 1,421 km length has been  commissioned  and  an  expenditure  of ` 23,964  crore  has  been incurred upto March, 2023.

Zone-wise  details  of  all  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 (RSP).

Since  2014,  there  has  been  substantial  increase  in  Budget  allocation and commensurate commissioning of projects across Indian Railways. Average Budget allocation for Infrastructure projects and safety works, falling  fully/  partly  in  Maharashtra, during  2014-19 has been enhanced to ` 4,801  crore  which  is  310%  more  than  Average  Annual  Budget Allocation  of ` 1171 crore per year  during 2009-14. The allocation has been increased to ` 7,281 crore in Financial Year 2019-20 (522% more than the Average Annual Budget allocation of 2009-14), ` 6,700 crore in Financial  Year  2020-21  (472%  more  than  the  Average  Annual  Budget allocation  of  2009-14)  and ` 8,547  crore  for  Financial  Year  2021-22 (630% more than the Average Annual Budget allocation of 2009-14) and ` 11,903 crore in FY 2022-23. For FY 2023-24, highest ever budget outlay of ` 13,539  crore  has  been  provided  for  these  works,  which  is  1056% more  than  the  Average  Annual  Budget  Allocation  of  2009-14  ( ` 1,171 crore per year).

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).

Various  steps  taken  by  the  Government  for  speedy  sanction  and implementation of rail 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.

During 2014-23, 1,472 km sections (147 km New Line, 136 km Gauge Conversion  and  1189  km  Doubling)  falling  fully/partly  in  Maharashtra have been commissioned at an average rate 163.56 km per year, which is  180%  more  than  average  commissioning  during  2009-14  (58.4 km/year).

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