Lok Sabha Question No. 2816 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2025-12-17
Subject: Timely Completion of Railway Projects
Ministry: RAILWAYS
Asked by: Dr. Raj Kumar Chabbewal, Smt. Mala Roy

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA

## MINISTRY OF RAILWAYS

## LOK SABHA

## UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 2816

## TO BE ANSWERED ON 17.12.2025

## TIMELY COMPLETION OF RAILWAY PROJECTS

2816.  SMT. MALA ROY: DR. RAJ KUMAR CHABBEWAL:

## Will the Minister of RAILWAYS be pleased to state:

- (a) whether  it  is  a  fact  that  a  large  number  of  railway  projects have  been  badly  delayed  beyond  their  stipulated  date  of completion in the country;
- (b) if so, the details thereof, State/UT-wise particularly in the State of Punjab;
- (c) whether  the  Government  proposes  to  take  any  measures  to ensure the timely completion of these railway projects and if so, the details thereof and if not, the reasons therefor; and
- (d) the  details  of  the  number  of  railway  projects  which  were announced in the Rail Budget during  the  period from  2009-11 and remained incomplete, State-wise and the reasons therefor?

## ANSWER

MINISTER OF RAILWAYS, INFORMATION & BROADCASTING AND ELECTRONICS & INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY (SHRI ASHWINI VAISHNAW)

(a) to (d): As on   01.04.2025,   across   Indian   Railways,   431   Railway Contd…2

infrastructure  projects  (154  New  Line,  33  Gauge  Conversion  and  244 Doubling)  of  total  length  35,966  Km,  costing approx. 6.75  lakh  crore are sanctioned. The summary is as under:-

| Category                 |   No of Projects | Total Length NL/GC/DL (km)   | Length Commissioned till Mar'25 (Km)   | Total Exp upto Mar'25 ( in Cr)   |
|--------------------------|------------------|------------------------------|----------------------------------------|----------------------------------|
| New Lines                |              154 | 16,142                       | 3,036                                  | 1,45,318                         |
| Gauge Conversion         |               33 | 4,180                        | 2,997                                  | 22,753                           |
| Doubling / Multitracking |              244 | 15,644                       | 6,736                                  | 1,22,858                         |
| Total                    |              431 | 35,966                       | 12,769                                 | 2,90,929                         |

Zone-wise/year-wise details of all Railway projects are made available in public domain on Indian Railway's 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                            |
| 2014-25  | 34,428 Km                | 8.57 Km/day (more than 2 times)       |

## Punjab

Budget allocation for Infrastructure  projects and safety works, falling fully/partly  in  the  State  of  Punjab  has  increased  substantially.  The details are as under:

Contd…3

| Period   | Outlay                         |
|----------|--------------------------------|
| 2009-14  | 225 crore/year                 |
| 2025-26  | 5,421 Cr. (More than 24 times) |

As  on  01.04.2025,  09  projects  (04  new  line  and  05  doubling)  of  total length 714 Km, costing 21,926 crore, falling fully/partly in the State of Punjab are sanctioned. The summary is as under:-

| Category                |   No. of projects | Total Length   | Length Commissioned   | Expenditure upto March 2025 ( in Crore)   |
|-------------------------|-------------------|----------------|-----------------------|-------------------------------------------|
| New line                |                04 | 252 Km         | 64 Km                 | 7359                                      |
| Doubling /multitracking |                05 | 462 Km         | 51 Km                 | 720                                       |
| Total                   |                09 | 714 Km         | 115 Km                | 8,079                                     |

Details of some of the recently completed projects falling fully/partly in the State of Punjab are as under:

|   S. No. | Project                                           |   Cost ( in Cr.) |
|----------|---------------------------------------------------|------------------|
|        1 | Chakki Bank-Bharoli Doubling (3 Km)               |               15 |
|        2 | Jakhal- Mansa Doubling (45 Km)                    |              163 |
|        3 | Mirthal-Bhangala Beas River Doubling (2.5 Km)     |               74 |
|        4 | Ambala-Dhapper-chandigarh Doubling (45 Km)        |              339 |
|        5 | Mansa - Bhatinda Doubling (49 Km)                 |              216 |
|        6 | Amritsar to Chheharta Doubling (7 Km)             |               31 |
|        7 | Jallandhar-Pathankot-Jammu Tawi Doubling (209 km) |              850 |

|   S. No. | Project                                                      |   Cost ( in Cr.) |
|----------|--------------------------------------------------------------|------------------|
|        8 | Kathua-Madhopur Punjab - doubling across Ravi Bridge(2.5 Km) |              257 |
|        9 | Rajpura-Bhatinda Doubling (173 Km)                           |             2459 |

Some of  the  projects  falling  fully/partly  in  the  State  of  Punjab  which have been taken up are as under:

|   SN. | Project                                                                       |   Cost ( in Cr.) |
|-------|-------------------------------------------------------------------------------|------------------|
|     1 | Nangal Dam-Talwara & Taking over siding of Mukerian-Talwara New line (143 Km) |             2018 |
|     2 | Bhanupalli-Bilaspur-Beri New Line(63 Km)                                      |             6753 |
|     3 | Qadian-Beas New Line(40 km)                                                   |              842 |
|     4 | Ferozpur-Patti New Line (26 Km)                                               |              300 |
|     5 | Rama Mandi (Raman)-Maur Mandi (Maur) via Talwandi Sabo ( 29 km) New Line      |              154 |
|     6 | Ludhiana-Kila Raipur doubling (19 Km)                                         |              238 |
|     7 | Ludhiana-Mullanpur doubling (21 Km)                                           |              235 |
|     8 | Rajpura-Mohali New Line (18 km)                                               |              443 |

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

Contd…5

|   SN | Name of the project                        |   Total land required (in Ha) |   Land acquired (in Ha) |   Balance Land to be acquired (in Ha) |
|------|--------------------------------------------|-------------------------------|-------------------------|---------------------------------------|
|    1 | Firozpur-Patti new line                    |                           166 |                       0 |                                   166 |
|    2 | Alal-Himmatana Chord line                  |                            20 |                       0 |                                    20 |
|    3 | Qadian-Beas New Line                       |                           151 |                       0 |                                   151 |
|    4 | Rama Mandi( Raman)- Talwandi Sabo New Line |                            85 |                       0 |                                    85 |

Firozpur-Patti New line (26 km) situated fully in Punjab is an important project  near  the  international  border.  Land  for  project  was  to  be handed over free of cost for this project by State Govt. of Punjab. Total 166  Ha  land  is  to  be  acquired  in  the  districts  of  Firozpur  and  Tarn Taran.  Award  for  entire  land  has  been  published  in  Mar'23.  However, disbursement  of  award  has  not  been  done  by  State  Government considering  delay  in  execution  of  this  important  border  area  project, Ministry of Railways has decided to take up Firozpur-Patti New line (26 km) through its own funding.

Sanction of any railway project depend upon many parameters/factors which include the following:

-  Anticipated  traffic  projections  and  Remunerativeness  of  the proposed route
-  First and last mile connectivity provided by the project
-  Connection of missing links and providing additional route
-  Augmentation of congested/saturated lines

Contd…6

-  Demands raised by State Governments/Central Ministries/Public representatives,
-  Railway's own operational requirements
-  Socio-economic considerations
-  Overall availability of funds

Completion  of  Railway  project/s  depends  on  various  factors  which include the following:

-  Land acquisition by State Government
-  Forest clearance
-  Shifting of infringing utilities
-  Statutory clearances from various authorities
-  Geological and topographical conditions of area
- 
- Law and order situation in the area of project site
-  Number of working months in a year for particular project site etc.

All these factors affect the completion time and cost of the project/s.

Various  steps  taken  by  the  Government  for  effective  and  speedy implementation of rail projects include:

-  Substantial increase in allocation of funds.
-  Delegation of powers at field level.
- 
- Close monitoring of progress of project at various levels.
-  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.

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