Lok Sabha Question No. 123 (STARRED), answered on 2024-07-31
Subject: Incomplete Rail Infrastructure Projects
Ministry: RAILWAYS
Asked by: Shri Arvind Ganpat Sawant, Shri Shyamkumar Daulat Barve

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF RAILWAYS

## LOK SABHA STARRED QUESTION NO. 123 TO BE ANSWERED ON 31.07.2024

## INCOMPLETE RAIL INFRASTRUCTURE PROJECTS

*123. SHRI ARVIND GANPAT SAWANT: SHRI SHYAMKUMAR DAULAT BARVE:

Will the Minister of RAILWAYS be pleased to state:

- (a) whether the Government is aware that a number of rail infrastructure projects are incomplete due to various reasons;
- (b) if  so,  the  details  of  such  projects  running  behind  the  schedule  in Maharashtra along with the reasons therefor;
- (c) since when these projects are running behind the schedule; and
- (d) the  steps  taken  by  the  Government  to  complete  these  projects without further loss of time and cost over run?

## 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.  123  BY  SHRI  ARVIND  GANPAT  SAWANT  AND  SHRI SHYAMKUMAR DAULAT BARVE TO BE ANSWERED IN LOK SABHA ON 31.07.2024 REGARDING INCOMPLETE RAIL INFRASTRUCTURE PROJECTS

(a)  to  (d):The  Railway  projects  are  sanctioned  Zonal  Railway  wise  and not  State  wise/UT  wise  as  the  Railways'  projects  may  span  across various state boundaries.

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 approx. 7.44 lakh crore are in planning/approval/construction  stage,  out  of  which,  12,045  Km  length has been commissioned and an expenditure of approx. 2.92 lakh crore has been incurred upto March, 2024.

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 Average Annual Budget allocation for New Line, Gauge Conversion and Doubling Projects across Indian Railways is given below:

| Period   | Average Outlay    | Increase w.r.t. average allocation of 2009-14   |
|----------|-------------------|-------------------------------------------------|
| 2009-14  | 11,527 crore/year | -                                               |
| 2024-25  | 68,634 crore      | Nearly 6 times                                  |

The  details  of  commissioning  of  New  Lines,  Gauge  Conversion  and Doubling sections across Indian Railways is given below:-

| Period   | Total Length Commissioned   | Average Length Commissioned   | Increase w.r.t. average commissioning during 2009-14   |
|----------|-----------------------------|-------------------------------|--------------------------------------------------------|
| 2009-14  | 7,599 km                    | 4.2 km/day                    | -                                                      |
| 2014-24  | 31,180 km                   | 8.54 km/day                   | More than 2 times                                      |

In 2023-24, 5,309 km sections have been commissioned across Indian

Railways.

## MAHARASHTRA

Railway infrastructure projects falling fully/partly in the State of Maharashtra are covered under Central Railway, South Central Railway, South East Central Railway, South Western Railway and Western Railway Zones of Indian Railways.

As on  01.04.2024, 41  Railway  infrastructure  projects  (16  New  Line,  02 Gauge Conversion and 23 Doubling), of total length of 5,877 km costing ₹81,580  crore  falling  fully/partly  in  the  State  of  Maharashtra  are  in implementation/ concurrence stages, out of which 1,926 km length has been  commissioned  and  an  expenditure  of  ₹31,236  crore  has  been incurred upto March 2024. These include-

- (i) 16 New Line projects of total length of 2,017 km costing ₹38,423 crore,  out  of  which  166  km  length  has  been  commissioned  and  an expenditure of ₹8,529 crore has been incurred upto March 2024.
- (ii) 2  Gauge  Conversion  projects  of  total  length  of  609  km  costing ₹7,339 crore, out of which 312 km length has been commissioned and an expenditure of ₹3,332 crore has been incurred upto March 2024.
- (iii) 23  Doubling  projects  of  total  length  of  3,251  km  costing  ₹35,818 crore,  out  of  which  1,448  km  length  has  been  commissioned  and  an expenditure of ₹19,376 crore has been incurred upto March 2024.

Further,  to  avoid  congestions  on  suburban  corridors  and  to  meet  the future demands, MUTP III costing  10,947 crores and MUTP III A costing 33,690 crores have been sanctioned. These projects include following additional 10 rail links:

|   S.No. | Name of project                                         |   Cost (₹ in crore) |
|---------|---------------------------------------------------------|---------------------|
|       1 | 5th & 6th Line CSTM-Kurla (17.5 km)                     |                 891 |
|       2 | 6th Line Mumbai Central-Borivali (30 km),               |                 919 |
|       3 | Panvel-Karjat Suburban corridor (29.6 km)               |                2782 |
|       4 | Airoli-Kalwa (elevated) suburban corridor link (3.3 km) |                 476 |
|       5 | Quadrupling of Virar-Dahanu Road 3rd & 4th Line (64 km) |                3587 |
|       6 | Extension of Harbour Line Goregaon-Borivali (7 km),     |                 826 |
|       7 | 5th & 6th line Borivali-Virar (26 km)                   |                2184 |
|       8 | 4th line between Kalyan-Asangaon (32 km)                |                1759 |
|       9 | 3rd & 4th line between Kalyan-Badlapur (14.05 km)       |                1510 |
|      10 | Kalyan Yard-Segregation of Main Line & Suburban         |                 866 |

All  these  MUTP  projects  have  been  sanctioned  on  cost  sharing  basis 50:50  between  Ministry  of  Railways  and  Government  of  Maharashtra. However, Maharashtra Govt. was not providing requisite funds on time as per the commitment till 2022-23, resulting in delay in completion of the projects. Government of Maharashtra has started funding for MUTP 3A projects from April 2023.

Since 2014, there has been substantial increase in fund allocation and commensurate  commissioning of projects across Indian Railways. Budget  allocation  for  Infrastructure  projects  and  safety  works  falling fully/partly in the state of Maharashtra is as under:-

| Period   | Average Outlay    | Increase w.r.t. to average allocation during 2009-14   |
|----------|-------------------|--------------------------------------------------------|
| 2009-14  | ₹1,171 crore/year | -                                                      |
| 2023-24  | ₹13,539 crore     | 11.56 times                                            |
| 2024-25  | 15940 crore       | 13.61 times                                            |

Commissioning of infrastructure projects falling fully/partly in the State of Maharashtra is as under:

| Period   | Total Track Commissioned   | Average Track Commissioned   | Increase w.r.t. average commissioning during 2009-14   |
|----------|----------------------------|------------------------------|--------------------------------------------------------|
| 2009-14  | 292 Km                     | 58.4 km/year                 | -                                                      |
| 2014-24  | 1830 Km                    | 183 km/year                  | 3.13 times                                             |

In 2023-24 total 358 kms have been commissioned which is more than 6 times as compared to average commissioning during 2009-14.

Various  steps  taken  by  the  Government  for  effective  and  speedy implementation of rail projects include (i) substantial increase in allocation  of  funds,  (ii)  delegation  of  powers  at  field  level,  (iii)  close monitoring of progress of project at various levels (iv) 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.

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).

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