Lok Sabha Question No. 25 (STARRED), answered on 2024-07-24
Subject: Construction of New Railway Lines in Andhra Pradesh
Ministry: RAILWAYS
Asked by: Shri Kesineni Sivanath

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF RAILWAYS

## LOK SABHA STARRED QUESTION NO.25 TO BE ANSWERED ON 24.07.2024

## CONSTRUCTION OF NEW RAILWAY LINES IN ANDHRA PRADESH

- *25  SHRI KESINENI SIVANATH:

Will the Minister of RAILWAYS be pleased to state :

- (a) the number of new railway lines falling fully/partly within the State of Andhra Pradesh that are under construction;
- (b) the date on which the construction of these lines began along with length in kilometre that have been constructed/classified, year- wise;
- (c) the amount allocated for construction of these railway lines along with the amount utilised/classified, year-wise; and
- (d) the timeline by which the Government plans to complete construction of these railway lines?

## 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.

*****

STATEMENT REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO PARTS (a) TO (d) OF STARRED QUESTION NO.25 BY SHRI KESINENI SIVANATH TO BE ANSWERED IN LOK  SABHA  ON  24.07.2024  REGARDING  CONSTRUCTION  OF  NEW RAILWAY LINES IN ANDHRA PRADESH

(a) to (d): Railway projects are sanctioned and executed Zonal Railway wise  not  State  wise  as  Railways'  project/s  may  span  across  state boundaries.

However,  as  on  01.04.2024,  17  New  Lines,  covering  total  length  of 1,935 km, costing ₹26,292 crore, falling fully/partly in Andhra Pradesh, are  in  the  stage  of  planning/approval/execution,  out  of  which  184  km length has been commissioned and an expenditure of ₹5,530 crore has been incurred upto March 2024.

New Line Projects are considered on the basis of demands raised by State  Governments,  Central  Ministries,  Members  of  Parliament,  other public representatives & Railways' own requirements. They are taken up  on  the  basis  of  remunerativeness,  last  mile  connectivity,  missing links and alternate routes, augmentation of congested/saturated lines, socio-economic  considerations  etc.  depending  upon  throw-forward  of ongoing projects, overall availability of funds and competing demands which covers connectivity in backward & rural areas also.

New Lines projects  falling  fully/partly  in  Andhra  Pradesh  are  covered under Southern Railway, South Central Railway, South Western Railway and East Coast Railway zones of Indian Railways. Zonal Railway wise details of projects including their cost, expenditure,  outlay are made available in public domain on Indian Railways website.

Since 2014, there has been substantial increase in fund allocation and commensurate commissioning of projects across Indian Railways.

Commissioning  of  infrastructure  projects  falling  fully/partly  in  the

: 2 : State of Andhra Pradesh is as under:

| Period   | Total Length Commissioned   | Average Length Commissioned   | Increase w.r.t. average commissioning during 2009-14   |
|----------|-----------------------------|-------------------------------|--------------------------------------------------------|
| 2009-14  | 363 km                      | 72.6 km/Year                  | -                                                      |
| 2014-24  | 1,510 km                    | 151 km/Year                   | More than 2 times                                      |

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

| Year       | Budget outlay   | Increase w.r.t. average annual allocation during 2009-14   |
|------------|-----------------|------------------------------------------------------------|
| 2009- 2014 | ₹886 cr/year    | -                                                          |
| 2023- 2024 | ₹8,406 cr       | More than 9 times                                          |

Completion/Execution of Railway project/s depends on various factors like  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/s site,  number of  working  months in a  year  for  particular  project site due  to  climatic  conditions  etc.  and  all  these  factors  affect  the execution and completion time of the project/s.

****