Lok Sabha Question No. 3799 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2024-12-18
Subject: Improvement in Transportation Efficiency in Rail Projects
Ministry: RAILWAYS
Asked by: Dr. Gumma Thanuja Rani

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA

## MINISTRY OF RAILWAYS

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 3799 TO BE ANSWERED ON 18.12.2024

## IMPROVEMENT IN TRANSPORTATION EFFICIENCY IN RAIL PROJECTS

3799. DR. GUMMA THANUJA RANI:

Will the Minister of RAILWAYS be pleased to state:

- (a) the specific improvements in transportation efficiency and supply chain management are expected from rail projects;
- (b) the  manner  in  which  the  enhanced  connectivity  will  affect  the local economies of the districts covered by these projects;
- (c) whether  any  measures  have  been  taken  to  ensure  that  the benefits of these projects are evenly distributed among the States involved, including Andhra Pradesh; and
- (d) if so, the details thereof?

## ANSWER

MINISTER OF RAILWAYS, INFORMATION & BROADCASTING AND ELECTRONICS & INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY (SHRI ASHWINI VAISHNAW)

(a) to (d): 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.

The launch of PM Gati Shakti National Master Plan (NMP) has brought transformative  approach  in  planning  and  execution  of  infrastructural transportation projects. The NMP, spanning across the entire country has  brought  in  synergy  between  the  infrastructure  sectors  such  as railways, shipping,  roadways, telecommunications,  pipelines, etc. through collaboration amongst concerned Ministries/State Governments/Departments,  thereby  bringing  in  vast  improvement  in transportation efficiency, supply chain management, enhancing connectivity  affecting  local  economies,  speeding  up  the  clearances needed for the project completion as well as planning at a faster pace.

Indian Railways has imbibed the principles of Gati Shakti in its project planning process and now survey of all New Line, Gauge Conversion and  Doubling  projects  are  taken  up  under  PM  Gati  Shakti  National Master    Plan    (NMP)    for    the    development      of      multimodal connectivity infrastructure to various Economic Zones with an objective  to  have  integrated  planning,  enhanced logistics efficiency

and remove gaps for seamless movement of people, goods/ commodities i.e. agricultural products, fertilizers, coal, iron ore, steel, cement, limestone etc. and services including connectivity to places of strategic importance, border areas, industrial clusters, ports, mines, power plants, villages etc.

Railway  Infrastructure  Projects  falling  fully/partly  in  the  State  of Andhra Pradesh are covered by East Coast Railway (ECoR), Southern Railway  (SR)  and  South  Central  Railway  (SCR)  and  South  Western Railway (SWR) Zone of Indian Railways. Zonal Railway wise details of Railway  projects  including  cost,  expenditure  and  outlay  are  made available in public domain.

As on 01.04.2024, 41 projects(17 New Lines and 24 Doubling), covering total  length  of  5,329  km  length,  costing  Rs.73,743  crore,  falling fully/partly  in  Andhra  Pradesh,  are  in  planning/approval/construction stage, out of which 1,006 km length has been commissioned and an expenditure  of  Rs.24,150  crore  has  been  incurred  upto  March  2024. The summary is as under:-

| Category                 |   No. of projects |   Total Length (in Km) |   Length Commissioned (in Km) |   Expenditure upto March 2024 (Rs. in cr.) |
|--------------------------|-------------------|------------------------|-------------------------------|--------------------------------------------|
| New lines                |                17 |                   1935 |                           184 |                                       5530 |
| Doubling / Multitracking |                24 |                   3394 |                           822 |                                      18620 |
| Total                    |                41 |                   5329 |                          1006 |                                      24150 |

Budget allocation for Infrastructure projects and safety works, falling fully/ partly in Andhra Pradesh is as under:

| Period    | Outlay                              |
|-----------|-------------------------------------|
| 2009-2014 | Rs.886 Crore /year                  |
| 2024-2025 | Rs.9,151 Crore (More than 10 times) |

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

| Period   | New Track Commissioned   | Average Commissioning of new tracks   |
|----------|--------------------------|---------------------------------------|
| 2009-14  | 363 km                   | 72.6 km/Year                          |
| 2014-24  | 1,510 km                 | 151 km/Year (More than 2 times)       |

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