Lok Sabha Question No. 3867 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2024-12-18
Subject: Expension of Narkatiaganj-Gaunaha Railway Service
Ministry: RAILWAYS
Asked by: Shri Sunil Kumar

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA

## MINISTRY OF RAILWAYS

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 3867 TO BE ANSWERED ON 18.12.2024

## EXPENSION OF NARKATIAGANJ-GAUNAHA RAILWAY SERVICE

- †  3867.   SHRI SUNIL KUMAR:

Will the Minister of RAILWAYS be pleased to state:

- (a)  whether the Government proposes to expand the railway service from the
- Narkatiaganj-Gaunaha to Bettiah via Bakhri Bazar-HarnatandValmikinagar-Bagha  Lauriya  by  laying a new  railway  line for development of the tribal dominated area of Valmikinagar;
- (b)  if so, the details thereof; and
- (c)  if not, the reasons therefor?

## ANSWER

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

(SHRI ASHWINI VAISHNAW)

(a) to (c) : Railway projects are surveyed/sanctioned/executed Zonal Railway wise and not State-wise/district-wise/parliamentary constituency wise as the Railway projects may span across State/district/ parliamentary constituency boundaries.  Sanctioning of  Railway  projects  is a  continuous  and  dynamic

process of Indian Railway. 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  including  connectivity  to  tribal  dominated  areas etc. depending upon throwforward of ongoing projects and overall availability of funds.

Railway  Infrastructure  Projects  falling  fully/partly  in  the  State  of  Bihar  are covered under East Central Railway, Eastern Railway, North Eastern Railway and Northeast Frontier Railway zones of Indian Railways. Zonal Railway wise details  of  Railway  projects  including  cost,  expenditure  and  outlay  made available in public domain on Indian Railway's website.

Gaunaha  is  already  connected  to  Narkatiaganj  station  which  is  further connected  to  Bettiah  through  existing  rail  line.  Harnatand  is  served  by Valmikinagar Road station. To further improve rail connectivity in the region, following projects have been recently sanctioned:-

|   S.No. | Project Name                                                               |   Length (in Kms) |   Cost (Rs. in Crores) |
|---------|----------------------------------------------------------------------------|-------------------|------------------------|
|       1 | Valmikinagar-Gorakhpur Doubling                                            |                96 |                   1121 |
|       2 | Narkatiaganj-Raxaul-Sitamarhi- Darbhanga & Sitamarhi- Muzaffarpur doubling |               256 |                   4080 |

As on 01.04.2024, 55 projects (31 New Lines, 02 Gauge Conversions and 22 Doubling),  of  total  length  of  5,064  Km,  costing  Rs.  79,356  crore  falling fully/partly  in  the  State  of  Bihar  including  projects  falling  in  Valmikinagar Parliamentary Constituency and Tribal dominated areas are in planning/approval/construction stage, out of which, 1194 km length has been commissioned and an expenditure of Rs. 26,983 crore has been incurred upto March, 2024. The summary is as under:-

| Category                |   No. of projects |   Total Length (in Km) |   Length Commission ed till March, 2024 (in Km) |   Total Exp. upto March, 2024 (Rs. in Cr.) |
|-------------------------|-------------------|------------------------|-------------------------------------------------|--------------------------------------------|
| New Lines               |                31 |                   2712 |                                             464 |                                      13629 |
| Gauge Conversion        |                 2 |                    348 |                                             288 |                                       1520 |
| Doubling/Multi-tracking |                22 |                   2005 |                                             442 |                                      11834 |
| Total                   |                55 |                   5064 |                                            1194 |                                      26983 |

The details of outlay for infrastructure projects falling fully/partly in the State of Bihar is as under:-

| Period   | Outlay                          |
|----------|---------------------------------|
| 2009-14  | Rs. 1132 Cr./year               |
| 2024-25  | Rs. 10,033 Cr. (Nearly 9 times) |

The details of commissioning/ laying of new track falling fully/partly in the State of Bihar is as under:-

| Period   | New Track Commissioned   | Average Commissioning of new tracks   |
|----------|--------------------------|---------------------------------------|
| 2009-14  | 318 Km                   | 63.6 Km                               |
| 2023-24  | 361 Km                   | 361 Km (More than 5 times)            |

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