Lok Sabha Question No. 3743 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2024-12-18
Subject: Delays in Completion of Railway Projects in Kanniyakumari and Virudhunagar
Ministry: RAILWAYS
Asked by: Shri Manickam Tagore B, Shri Vijayakumar Alias Vijay Vasanth

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA

## MINISTRY OF RAILWAYS

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 3743 TO BE ANSWERED ON 18.12.2024

## DELAYS IN COMPLETION OF RAILWAY PROJECTS IN KANNIYAKUMARI

## AND VIRUDHUNAGAR

3743.  SHRI VIJAYAKUMAR ALIAS VIJAY VASANTH: SHRI MANICKAM TAGORE B:

Will the Minister of  RAILWAYS  be pleased to state:

- (a) the details of steps taken by the Government to address the concerns of local communities in Kanniyakumari and Virudhunagar, who are affected by the delay in completion of the railway projects in the region;
- (b) the  reasons  behind  the  drastic  reduction  in  funds  allocated  for  the doubling  works  of  the  Katpadi-Villupuram,  Salem-Karur-Dindigul  and Erode-Karur lines, from Rs. 1.5 billion to just Rs. 1,000 each;
- (c) the  manner  in  which  the  benefits  of  the  railway  projects  in  the  said region  are  shared  equitably  among  local  communities,  particularly  in terms of employment opportunities and access to services;
- (d) the measures proposed to be taken to prevent cost overruns and delays in the completion of the said projects in the region particularly in light of recent reports of delays and cost escalations in other rail projects; and
- (e) the  details  of  the  progress  made  in  the  implementation  of  the  Vanchi Maniyachchi Nagercoil section of the Madurai - Tirunelveli - Nagercoil Kanniyakumari line doubling-cum-electrification project?

## ANSWER

MINISTER OF RAILWAYS, INFORMATION & BROADCASTING AND

ELECTRONICS & INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

(SHRI ASHWINI VAISHNAW)

(a) to (e): Railway projects are surveyed/ sanctioned/executed Zonal  Railway

wise  and  not  State-wise/District-wise  as  the  Railway  projects  may  span across  state/district  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.

Railway infrastructure projects falling fully/partly in the State of Tamil Nadu are covered under Southern Railway (SR), South Central Railway (SCR) and South Western Railway (SWR) zones of Indian Railways. Zonal Railway wise details of Railway projects including cost, expenditure and outlay are made available in public domain on Indian Railway's website.

As on 01.04.2024, 22 Railways projects (10 new line, 03 Gauge conversion and  09  doubling)  of  total  length  2,587  Km,  costing  ₹33,467  crore,  falling fully/partly in the State of Tamil Nadu are at various stages of planning and implementation, out of which 665 Km length has been commissioned and an expenditure of ₹7,153 crore has been incurred upto March' 2024. The status of work is summarized as under:-

| Plan Head               |   No. of projects |   Total Length (in Km) |   Length Commissioned (in Km) |   Expenditure upto March 2024 (₹ in Cr.) |
|-------------------------|-------------------|------------------------|-------------------------------|------------------------------------------|
| New Line                |                10 |                    872 |                            24 |                                     1223 |
| Gauge Conversion        |                 3 |                    748 |                           604 |                                     3267 |
| Doubling /Multitracking |                 9 |                    967 |                            37 |                                     2664 |
| Total                   |                22 |                   2587 |                           665 |                                     7153 |

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

| Period   | Outlay                           |
|----------|----------------------------------|
| 2009-14  | ₹879 crore/year                  |
| 2024-25  | ₹6,362 crore (more than 7 times) |

Though  fund  allocation  has  increased  manifold  but  pace  of  execution  of project is dependent on expeditious land acquisition. Railway acquires the land through State Government and the completion of a railway projects is dependent of land acquisition. Execution of important infrastructure projects falling fully/partly in the State of Tamil Nadu are held up due to delay in land acquisition. Status of land acquisition in the State of Tamil Nadu is as under:

| Total Land required for Projects in Tamil Nadu   | 3389 Ha       |
|--------------------------------------------------|---------------|
| Land Acquired                                    | 866 Ha (26%)  |
| Balance Land to be acquired                      | 2523 Ha (74%) |

Government  of  India  is  geared  up  to  execute  projects,  however  success depends upon the support of Government of Tamil Nadu.  For instance, details of  some  major  projects  which  are  delayed  due  to  land  acquisition  are  as under:-

|   SN | Name of the project                         |   Total land required (in Ha) |   Land acquired (in Ha) |   Balance Land to be acquired (in Ha) |
|------|---------------------------------------------|-------------------------------|-------------------------|---------------------------------------|
|    1 | Tindivanam -Tiruvannamalai new line (71 Km) |                           273 |                      33 |                                   240 |
|    2 | Attiputtu - Puttur New Line (88 Km)         |                           189 |                       0 |                                   189 |
|    3 | Morappur - Dharmapuri (36 Km)               |                            93 |                       0 |                                    93 |
|    4 | Mannargudi-Pattukkottai (41 Km)             |                           152 |                       0 |                                   152 |
|    5 | Thanjavur - Pattukottai (52 Km)             |                           196 |                       0 |                                   196 |

The completion of any Railway project 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 climate conditions etc.

Final  Location  Survey  (FLS)  for  doubling  of  Katpadi  -  Villupuram  (160  Km), doubling of Salem - Karur - Dindigul (160 Km) and doubling of Erode - Karur (65 Km) have been sanctioned. The projects are still at planning stage and yet to be sanctioned.

Maniyachi - Nagarcoil (102 Km) doubling project has been completed.  It has improved the line capacity of the section.

Benefits of Railway  projects in the respective regions include faster movement  of  the  essential  goods  and  agriculture  products,  increase  in employment  opportunities  for  the  people  of  this  region,  Socio-economic development of the  area,  development  of  tourism  industry  and  increase  in industrial activities in the region.

Various steps taken by the Government for speedy approval and implementation  of  rail  projects  include  (i)  setting  of  Gati  Shakti  units  (ii) prioritisation  of  projects  (iii)  substantial  increase  in  allocation  of  funds  on priority projects, (iv) delegation of powers at field  level, (v) close  monitoring

of  progress  of  project  at  various  levels  (vi)  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. This has led to substantial increase in rate of commissioning since 2014.

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