Lok Sabha Question No. 134 (STARRED), answered on 2024-12-04
Subject: Renovation/Reinforcement of Railway Stations in Aspirational Districts
Ministry: RAILWAYS
Asked by: Shri Ram Shiromani Verma

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF RAILWAYS

## LOK SABHA STARRED QUESTION NO. 134 TO BE ANSWERED ON 04.12.2024

## RENOVATION/REINFORCEMENT OF RAILWAY STATIONS IN ASPIRATIONAL DISTRICTS

†*134  SHRI RAM SHIROMANI VERMA:

Will the Minister of RAILWAYS be pleased to state:

- (a)  whether  the  Government  proposes  to  renovate/reinforce  all  the railway stations in the aspirational districts in the near future;
- (b) if so, the details thereof and if not, the reasons therefor;
- (c) whether the Government proposes to lay new railway tracks/doubling of the existing railway tracks and construction of new railway stations in all the aspirational districts of the country including Shravasti district; and;
- (d) if so, the details thereof and if not, the reasons therefor?

## ANSWER

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

(SHRI ASHWINI VAISHNAW)

- (a) to (d) A Statement is laid on the Table of the House.

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STATEMENT  REFERRED  TO  IN  REPLY  TO  PARTS  (a)  TO  (d)  OF STARRED QUESTION NO. 134 BY SHRI RAM SHIROMANI VERMA TO BE ANSWERED IN LOK SABHA ON 04.12.2024 REGARDING RENOVATION/REINFORCEMENT OF RAILWAY STATIONS IN ASPIRATIONAL DISTRICTS

(a)  to  (d)  Ministry  of  Railways  has  launched  'Amrit  Bharat  Station Scheme' for development of Railway stations on Indian Railways. This scheme envisages development of stations on a continuous basis with a long-term approach.

It  involves  preparation  of  Master  Plans  and  their  implementation  in phases to improve the amenities at the stations like improvement of station access, circulating areas, waiting halls, toilets, lift/escalators as necessary, platform surfacing and cover over platform, cleanliness, free Wi-Fi, kiosks for local products through schemes like 'One Station One Product', better passenger information systems, Executive Lounges, nominated spaces for business meetings, landscaping, etc. keeping in view the necessity at each station.

The scheme also envisages improvement of building, integrating the station with both sides of the city, multimodal integration, amenities for Divyangjans, sustainable and environment friendly solutions, provision  of  ballastless  tracks,  etc.  as  per  necessity,  phasing  and feasibility and creation of city centre at the station in the long term.

So far, 1337 stations have been identified under this scheme on Indian Railways  which  include  157  stations  falling  in  Aspirational  Districts. The names of stations identified for development under Amrit Bharat

Station Scheme which are located in the Aspirational Districts are as following:

|   No. of Stations in Aspirational Districts | Name of the Stations in Aspirational Districts                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           |
|---------------------------------------------|----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
|                                         157 | Abu Road, Anugraha Narayan Road, Araku, Arariaya Court, Bahraich, Balangir, Balrampur, Balsiring, Banka, Banmankhi, Bano, Baragamda Jn, Baran, Barauni, Bargawan, Barhni, Barkakana, Barsoi Jn, Basukinath, Begusarai, Bhadrachalam Road, Bhanupratappur, Bhawanipatna, Biyavra Rajgarh, Bokaro Steel City, Chaibasa, Chakradharpur, Chandauli Majhwar, Chandrapura, Chhabra Gugor, Chitrakut Dham Karwi, Chopan, Cuddapah, Dahod, Daltonganj, Damanjodi, Damoh, Dangoposi, Dhenkanal, Dholi, Dholpur, Dhubri, Dumka, Fatehpur, Firozpur Cantt, Gangaghat, Ganjbasoda, Garhwa Road, Garhwa Town, Gauripur, Gaya, Ghatsila, Giridih, Godda, Govindpur Road, Guna, Gunupur, Guraru, Haidar Nagar, Haridwar Jn, Harishanker Road, Harpalpur, Hatia, Hazaribagh Road, Hindaun City, Jagdalpur, Jaisalmer, Jamui, Janakpur Road, Japla, Jeypore, Kantabanji, Karhagola Road, Kashipur Jn, Katihar Jn, Kesinga, Khagaria Jn, Khajuraho Jn, Khandwa, Khariar Road, Kichha, Koraput Jn, Korba, Labha, Lakhminia, |

Latehar, Limkheda, Lohardaga, Mahasamund, Maheshkhunt,    Majbat,  Manikpur  Jn,  Manoharpur, Mansi Jn, MCS  Chhatarpur, Meramandali, Moga, Motipur, Muhammad Ganj, Muniguda, Muri Jn, Muzaffarpur Jn, Nabinagar Road, Nagar Untari, Namkom,  Nandurbar,  Nawadah,  Orga,  Osmanabad, Paharpur, Pakur, Paramakkudi, Parasnath, Parlakhemundi,  Parvatipuram,  Pathshala,  Pindwara, Piska, Pt. Deen Dayal Upadhyay Jn, Rafiganj, Raichur Jn, Rajapalayam, Rajmahal, Ram  Dayalu Nagar, Ramanathapuram, Ramdevra, Rameswaram, Ramgarh  Cantt,  Ranchi  Jn,  Rayagada,  Renukoot, Roorkee, Ruthiyai, Sahibganj, Sahibpur Kamal, Salauna, Salmari, Shri Mahaveerji,  Siddharth Nagar, Silli, Simultala, Singrauli, Sitamarhi, Sonbhadra, Srivilliputtur, Tangla, Tatanagar, Tatisilwai, Titlagarh Jn, Tulsipur, Udalguri, Vidisha, Virudhunagar, Vyasnagar, Wadsa, Washim, Yadgir

Further, upgradation/development/redevelopment of stations on Indian Railways  is  a  continuous  and  on-going  process  and  works  in  this regard are undertaken as per requirement, subject to inter-se priority and availability of funds. However, priority for upgradation/development/redevelopment  of  stations  is  accorded  to higher  category  of  station  over  lower  category  of  station  while sanctioning and executing the works.

Railway  projects  are  surveyed/  sanctioned/executed  Zonal  Railway wise  and  not  State-wise  as  the  Railways'  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.

As on 01.04.2024, across Indian Railways, 488 Railway Infrastructure projects  (187  New  Line,  40  Gauge  Conversion  and  261  Doubling)  of total length 44,488 Km, costing approximately Rs 7.44 Lakh Crores are in  planning/approval/construction  stage,  out  of  which,  12,045  Km length  has  been  commissioned  and  an  expenditure  of  approximately Rs  2.92  Lakh  Crores  has  been  incurred  upto  March,  2024.  The summary is as under:-

| Category                 |   No of Projects | Total Length (km)   | Length Commissioned till March-2024 (Km)   | Total Exp upto March- 2024 (in Rs Cr.)   |
|--------------------------|------------------|---------------------|--------------------------------------------|------------------------------------------|
| New lines                |              187 | 20,199              | 2,855                                      | 1,60,022                                 |
| Gauge conversion         |               40 | 4,719               | 2,972                                      | 18,706                                   |
| Doubling / Multitracking |              261 | 19,570              | 6,218                                      | 1,13,742                                 |
| TOTAL                    |              488 | 44,488              | 12,045                                     | 2,92,470                                 |

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

The  details  of  commissioning  /  laying  of  new  track  across  Indian Railways is given below:-

| Period   | New Track Commissioned   | Average Commissioning of new tracks   |
|----------|--------------------------|---------------------------------------|
| 2009- 14 | 7,599 km                 | 4.2 km/day                            |
| 2014- 24 | 31,180 km                | 8.54 km/day (more than 2 times)       |

In addition, 894 No. Surveys (287 New line, 14 Gauge Conversion and 593 Doubling) of total length 60,673 km have been sanctioned across Indian Railways including Aspirational Districts in the last three years FY 2021-22 to 2023-24 and current year FY 2024-25.

## Uttar Pradesh

Railway Infrastructure projects falling fully/partly in the State of Uttar Pradesh are covered under Northern Railway, North Central Railway, North Eastern Railway, East Central Railway and West Central Railway zones of Indian Railways.

As  on  01.04.2024,  in  Uttar  Pradesh  including  Shravasti  District,  68 Railway projects (16 New Line, 03 Gauge Conversion and 49 Doubling), of total length of 5,874 km costing Rs 92,001 Crores falling fully/partly in the State, are at various stages of planning and implementation, out of which 1,313 km length has been commissioned and an expenditure of Rs 28,366 Crores has been incurred upto March, 2024. The status of work is summarized as:-

| Category         |   No. of projects |   Total Length (in km) |   Length Commissioned (Km) |   Expenditure upto March, 2024 (Rs. In crore) |
|------------------|-------------------|------------------------|----------------------------|-----------------------------------------------|
| New Line         |                16 |                   1740 |                        297 |                                          8672 |
| Gauge Conversion |                 3 |                    261 |                          0 |                                            26 |

| Doubling/Multi-   | 49   | 3873   | 1016   | 19668   |
|-------------------|------|--------|--------|---------|
| TOTAL             |      |        |        |         |
|                   | 68   | 5874   | 1313   | 28366   |

In  the  New  Line  Project  Bahraich  -  Khalilabad  via  Bhinga,  Shravasti, Balrampur,  Utraula,  Mehdawal,  Bansi  (240  km)  work  has  been  taken up.

Since, 2014 there has been substantial increase in Budget allocation and commensurate commissioning of projects. Annual Budget allocation for Infrastructure and safety works, falling fully/partly in the State of Uttar Pradesh is as under:

| Period   | Budget Outlay         | Increase w.r.t. allocation of 2009-14   |
|----------|-----------------------|-----------------------------------------|
| 2009-14  | Rs 1,109 Crores/year  | -                                       |
| 2024-25  | Rs 19,848 Crores/year | More than 17 times                      |

Commissioning of sections (New Line, Gauge Conversion and Doubling) falling fully/partly in the State of Uttar Pradesh during 200914 and 2014-2024 is as under:

| Year    | Commissioning   | Increase w.r.t. average annual commissioning during 2009-14   |
|---------|-----------------|---------------------------------------------------------------|
| 2009-14 | 199 km/year     | -                                                             |
| 2014-24 | 490 km/year     | More than 2 times                                             |

During 2023-24, 1,752 Km (1328 km New line, 25 km Gauge conversion and 399 km Doubling) sections, falling fully/partly in the state of Uttar Pradesh have been commissioned.

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