Lok Sabha Question No. 1821 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2025-07-30
Subject: Railway Projects for Assam
Ministry: RAILWAYS
Asked by: Shri Phani Bhusan Choudhury

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA

## MINISTRY OF RAILWAYS

## LOK SABHA

UNSTARRED QUESTION NO.1821

## TO BE ANSWERED ON 30.07.2025

## RAILWAY PROJECTS FOR ASSAM

## 1821. SHRI PHANI BHUSAN CHOUDHURY:

Will the Minister of RAILWAYS be pleased to state:

- (a)  the  details  of  the  number  of  Railway  level  crossings  in  Rangia, Lumding  and  Tinsukia  Division  in  Assam  under  Northeast-Frontier (NF) Railway;
- (b)  the  number  of  unmanned  level  crossing  and  ROB's  already constructed/being  under  Construction  out  of  the  aforesaid  railway crossings in the said division in Assam;
- (c)  whether  the  Government  proposes  to  construct  new  ROB's  in Rangia,  Lumding  and  Tinsukia  Division  in  Assam,  if  so,  the  details thereof;
- (d) the details of railway projects currently under construction in NF Railway including projects name, length, original cost, revised cost, original  date  of  completion  and  anticipated  date  of  completion, project-wise;
- (e) the details of the reasons of delay, project-wise;
- (f) the details of new projects in pipeline along with estimated cost under the jurisdiction of NF Railway; and
- (g)  the  present  status  of  proposed  Agthori-Kamakhya  section  with the construction of new rail-cum-road bridge at Saraighat?

## ANSWER

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

(SHRI ASHWINI VAISHNAW)

(a) to (g) : All Unmanned level crossings (UMLCs) on running lines of Broad Gauge (BG) network of Indian Railways have been eliminated by 31.01.2019. As on 01.04.2025, there are 306 Nos. Manned Level

Crossing  (MLCs)  in  Rangiya,  204  Nos.  in  Lumding  and  278  Nos.  in Tinsukia divisions.

Sanctioning  of  works  of  Road  over  Bridge  (ROB)/Road  under Bridge  (RUB)  in  lieu  of  Level  crossings  (LCs)  is  a  continuous  and dynamic process of Indian Railway. Such works are prioritised and taken  up  on  the  basis  of  its  impact  on  safety  in  train  operations, mobility of trains & impact for road users and feasibility etc.

No. of ROBs/ RUBs constructed on Indian Railways during the period 2004-14 vis a vis 2014-25 (June'25) is as under:

| Period            | ROBs/ RUBs constructed   |
|-------------------|--------------------------|
| 2004-14           | 4,148 Nos.               |
| 2014-25 (June'25) | 13,426 Nos.              |

As on 01.04.2025, 4,402 Nos. ROBs/ RUBs are sanctioned at the cost of ₹ 1,00,860 Cr on Indian Railways including 61 Nos. Road Over Bridge (ROB)/Road Under Bridge (RUB) at the cost of ₹ 1,288 crore in the  State  of  Assam,  which  are  at  various  stages  of  planning  and execution.

During  2014-25  (June'25),  325  Nos.  ROBs/RUBs  have  been completed  in  the  State  of  Assam.  Presently,  details  of  sanctioned works of ROBs/RUBs in  Rangia, Lumding and Tinsukia divisions are as under:-

|   SN | Division   | ROBs/RUBs (Nos.)   | Status                            |
|------|------------|--------------------|-----------------------------------|
|    1 | Rangia     | 26                 | These works are at various        |
|    2 | Lumding 9  |                    | stages of planning and execution. |
|    3 | Tinsukia   | 34                 |                                   |

Completion  &  commissioning  of  ROB/RUB  works  depends  on various  factors  like  cooperation  of   State  Governments  in  giving consent for closure of LC,  fixing of approach alignment, approval of General  Arrangement  Drawing  (GAD),  land  acquisition,  removal  of encroachment,  shifting  of  infringing  utilities,  statutory  clearances from  various  authorities,   law  and  order  situation  in  the  area  of project  /  work  sites,   duration  of  working  season  in  a  year  for  the particular  project  /  area   due  to  climatic  conditions  etc.   All  these factors affect the completion time of the projects / works.

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.

As  on  01.04.2025,  12  Railway  projects  (08  New  Line  and  04 Doubling),  of  total  length  of  777  km  costing  ₹69,342  crore  falling fully/partly in the North East Region including the state of Assam are sanctioned, out of which 278 km length has been commissioned and an expenditure of ₹ 41,676 crore has been incurred upto March 2025. These include:-

| Plan Head   |   No. of projec ts |   Total Length (in Km) |   Length Commissioned (in Km) | Exp upto March 2025 (₹ in Cr.)   |
|-------------|--------------------|------------------------|-------------------------------|----------------------------------|
| New Lines   |                 08 |                    448 |                           113 | 38,078                           |
| Doubling    |                 04 |                    329 |                           165 | 3,598                            |
| Total       |                 12 |                    777 |                           278 | 41,676                           |

Commissioning  of  infrastructure  projects  falling  fully/partly  in  the North East Region including the state of Assam, is given below:-

| Period   | New Track Commissioned   | Average Commissioning of new tracks   |
|----------|--------------------------|---------------------------------------|
| 2009-14  | 333 Km                   | 66.6 Km/year                          |
| 2014-25  | 1840 Km                  | 167.27 Km/year (Nearly 3 times )      |

Average  Budget  allocation  for  Infrastructure  projects  and  other works, falling fully/ partly in North East Region including the state of Assam, is as under:-

| Period   | Outlay                   |
|----------|--------------------------|
| 2009-14  | ₹2,122 Crore/year        |
| 2025-26  | ₹10,440 (Nearly 5 times) |

The work for construction of 2 nd  Saraighat Rail cum Road Bridge has been sanctioned. Tender for taking up the work has been invited.

Details of some of the recently completed projects falling fully/partly in North East Region including the State of Assam, are as under:-

|   S.No. | Name of the Project                                                           | Cost (₹ In crore)   |
|---------|-------------------------------------------------------------------------------|---------------------|
|       1 | Bogibeel Bridge with linked New Line (92 Km)                                  | 5,820               |
|       2 | Agartala - Sabroom New Line (112 Km)                                          | 3,170               |
|       3 | Agartala - Akhaura New Line (5 Km)                                            | 865                 |
|       4 | Rangiya - Murkongselek Gauge Conversion (510 Km)                              | 3,019               |
|       5 | Kumarghat - Agartala Gauge Conversion (109 Km)                                | 1,242               |
|       6 | Katakhal - Bhairabi Gauge Conversion (84 Km)                                  | 348                 |
|       7 | Lumding - Badarpur - Silchar & Badarpur - Kumarghat Gauge Conversion (412 Km) | 6,500               |

|   8. | Lumding to Hojai Doubling (45 Km)                      | 410   |
|------|--------------------------------------------------------|-------|
|    9 | Digaru - Hojai Doubling (102 Km)                       | 1,873 |
|   10 | New Bongaigaon - Agthori via Rangiya Doubling (143 Km) | 2,048 |
|   11 | Bairabi-Sairang New Line (52 Km)                       | 8,601 |

Further, some of the main projects falling fully/Partly in North East Region including the State of Assam, which have been taken up, are as under:-

|   S.No. | Name of the project                                                           | Cost (₹ In crore)   |
|---------|-------------------------------------------------------------------------------|---------------------|
|       1 | Jiribam - Imphal New Line (111 Km)                                            | 18,562              |
|       2 | Dimapur - Zubza (Kohima) New Line (83 Km)                                     | 6,663               |
|       3 | Sivok - Rangpo New Line (45 Km)                                               | 12,133              |
|       4 | Murkongselek - Pasighat New Line (26 Km)                                      | 984                 |
|       5 | New Bongaigaon - Golpara - Guwahati Doubling                                  | 1,832               |
|       6 | Kamakhya - Guwahati 3rd Line (6 Km.)                                          | 395                 |
|       7 | Lumding - Furkating Doubling (140 Km.)                                        | 2,124               |
|       8 | Agthori - Kamakhya Doubling with New Rail cum Road Bridge at Sarighat (7 Km.) | 1,474               |

Various  steps  taken  by  the  Government  for  speedy  approval and implementation of Railway projects include (i) setting up 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,  and  (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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