Lok Sabha Question No. 126 (STARRED), answered on 2024-07-31
Subject: Construction of Underbridges and Overbridges
Ministry: RAILWAYS
Asked by: Smt. Sandhya Ray

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA

## MINISTRY OF RAILWAYS

## LOK SABHA STARRED QUESTION NO. 126 TO BE ANSWERED ON 31.07.2024

## CONSTRUCTION OF UNDERBRIDGES AND OVERBRIDGES

†*126   SMT. SANDHYA RAY:

Will the Minister of RAILWAYS be pleased to state:

- (a) the details of various developmental works related to railways carried  out  in  Madhya  Pradesh  including  Bhind  and  Datia districts during the last ten years;
- (b) the status of construction work of underbridges and overbridges  in the said districts;
- (c) the  total  amount  of  funds  allocated  for  the  said  work  along with the time schedule fixed for its completion;
- (d) whether there is any delay in the said construction work and if so, the reasons therefor; and
- (e) the status of work of the Amrit Bharat Railway Station in Datia district along with the time schedule fixed for the completion thereof  including  the  total  amount  of  funds  allocated  for  the said work?

## ANSWER

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

(SHRI ASHWINI VAISHNAW)

(a) to (e): A Statement is laid on the Table of the House. *****

STATEMENT  REFERRED  TO  IN  REPLY  TO  PARTS  (a)  TO  (e)  OF STARRED  QUESTION  NO.  126  BY  SMT.  SANDHYA  RAY  TO  BE ANSWERED IN LOK SABHA ON 31.07.2024 REGARDING CONSTRUCTION OF UNDERBRIDGES AND OVERBRIDGES

(a) to (e): Railway projects/surveys are not sanctioned Statewise/District-wise/Region-wise/Constituency-wise, but sanctioned Zone wise as Indian Railways' projects may span across State boundaries/Parliamentary Constituencies.

As  on  01.04.2024,  28  Railway  projects  (08  new  lines,  02  gauge conversion  and  18  doubling),  costing  ₹  81,797  crore  for  5,345  km length, falling fully/partly in Madhya Pradesh including Bhind and Datia districts are under different stages of planning/approval/execution. Out of which, 1,952 km length has been commissioned and an expenditure of ₹ 36,898 crore has been incurred upto March 2024. These include:

-  08 New Line Projects covering total length of 1,962 km at a cost of ₹ 38,643  crore, out of which 468 km length has been commissioned and an expenditure of ₹ 11,091 crore has been incurred upto March 2024.
-  02  Gauge  Conversion  Projects  covering  total  length  of  809 km at a cost of ₹ 9,297 crore, out of which 380 km length has been commissioned and an expenditure of ₹ 5,220 crore has been incurred upto March 2024.
-  18 Doubling Projects covering total length of 2,574 km at a cost  of  ₹  33,857  crore,  out  of  which  1,104  km  length  has been commissioned and an expenditure of ₹ 20,587 crore has been incurred upto March 2024.

Presently,  53  Nos.  of  Surveys  (15  New  Line  and  38  Doubling)  falling fully/partly in the State of Madhya Pradesh including Bhind and Datia districts having a total length of 5,064 Km have been taken up under PM  Gati  Shakti  National  Master  Plan (NMP)  for  the  development of …2/-

multimodal connectivity infrastructure to various Economic Zones with an objective to have integrated planning, enhanced logistics efficiency and  remove  gaps  for  seamless  movement  of  people,  goods  and industrial  clusters,  ports,  mines,  power services,  connectivity to plants, agricultural zones including tourist and cultural places.

Sanctioning of Railway projects is continuous and dynamic process of Indian  Railways. Railway infrastructure  projects are taken up  on  the basis  of  remunerativeness,  last  mile  connectivity,  missing  links  and cities, socio-economic considerations  etc.  depending  upon  liabilities  of  ongoing  projects, alternate routes, connecting to unconnected towns and augmentation of congested/saturated lines overall availability of funds and competing demands.

The  details  of  Railway  projects  including  allotment  of  funds  and expenditure, project-wise and Zonal Railway wise are made available in public domain on Indian Railways website.

However,  in  the  state  of  Madhya  Pradesh  including  Datia  and  Bhind district, Jhansi - Mathura 3 rd  line of 274 Km, costing ₹ 5190 crore and Jhansi - Manikpur doubling of 431 Km, costing ₹ 4330 crore have been taken up. New line from Tikamgarh to Mawai and Guna - Etawah rail line  have  been  commissioned.  Further,  Final  Location  Survey  of Mahoba to Bhind new line via Orai and Rath has been sanctioned.

Since 2014, there has been substantial increase in fund allocation and commensurate commissioning of projects falling fully/partly in State of Madhya Pradesh including Bhind  and  Datia  districts.  Average  annual Budget  allocation  for  infrastructure  projects  and  safety  works  and of commensurate  commissioning,  falling fully/partly in the state Madhya Pradesh including Bhind and Datia districts are as under:-

## Budget allocation:

| Period   | Average Outlay   | Increase w.r.t. average allocation of   |
|----------|------------------|-----------------------------------------|
| 2009-14  | ₹ 632 crore/year | -                                       |
| 2023-24  | ₹ 13,607 crore   | 21.5 times                              |
| 2024-25  | ₹ 14,738 crore   | 23 times                                |

## Commissioning:

| Period   | Average Commissioning   | Increase w.r.t. commissioning in 2009-14   |
|----------|-------------------------|--------------------------------------------|
| 2009-14  | 145 Km (29 km/year)     | -                                          |
| 2014-24  | 2249 Km (224.9 km/year) | More than 7.5 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.  State  Government assesses  the  compensation  amount  and  advises  to  Railway.  On receipt of demand from State Government, Railway deposits compensation amount with concerned District Land acquisition Authority.

Completion of Railway project/s depends on various factors like quick land acquisition by State Government, forest clearance by officials of forest department, 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  etc.  All  these factors affect the completion time of the project/s.

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 taken up on the basis of its

impact  on  safety  in  train  operations,  mobility  of  trains  &  impact  for road users and feasibility, availability of funds etc.

During  the  period  from  2014-24,  total  1062  Nos.  Road  Over  Bridges (ROBs)/Road Under Bridges  (RUBs)  were constructed in  the State  of Madhya Pradesh including 01 No. ROB & 03 Nos. RUB in Datia and 04 Nos. ROB in Bhind District respectively.

Fund  of  ₹  692  Cr.  has  been  allocated  in  the  year  2024-25  for sanctioned works of ROBs/RUBs in Madhya Pradesh including fund of ₹ 9.91 Cr. for 04 Nos. works of ROBs/RUBs in Datia District and ₹ 15.6 Cr. for 04 Nos. works of ROB in Bhind District.

Presently,  442  Nos.  of  ROBs/RUBs  are  sanctioned  in  the  State  of Madhya Pradesh which include 04 Nos. of ROB/RUB works at the cost of  ₹  57.48  Cr.  in  Datia  district  and  04  Nos.  ROBs  works  at  a  cost  of ₹  177.53  Cr.  in  Bhind  districts.  All  the  ROB/RUB  works  in  Datia  and Bhind district are being executed by the Railway at its own cost. The details  of  ROBs/RUBs  in  Datia  and  Bhind  district  are  tabulated  as under:

|   S. N. |   LC No. | Location / Section   | ROB /RUB   | Remarks                                                                             |
|---------|----------|----------------------|------------|-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
|       1 |      351 | Basai Yard           | ROB        | General arrangement drawing (GAD) has been approved. Tender has been finalized.     |
|       2 |      377 | Chirula - Datia      | RUB        | GAD has been approved. Tender has been finalized.                                   |
|       3 |      388 | Sonagir- Kotra       | RUB        | GAD has been approved. Tender has been finalized.                                   |
|       4 |      389 | Sonagir- Kotra       | RUB        | GAD has been approved. Tender has been finalized Excavation of Thrust bed completed |

|   5 |   50 | Bhind Yard      | ROB   | GAD has been approved. Tender has been finalized. Work of Diversion of Road is in progress.   |
|-----|------|-----------------|-------|-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
|   6 |   28 | Malanpur- Gohad | ROB   | GAD has been approved. Tender has been finalized. Design of Test pile has been prepared       |
|   7 |   33 | Gohad Yard      | ROB   | GAD has been approved. Tender has been finalized. Design of Test pile has been prepared       |
|   8 |   40 | Soni Yard       | ROB   | GAD is under approval.                                                                        |

Completion  of  any  ROB/RUB  work  depends  on  various  factors  like cooperation of State Governments for consent of 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, number of working months in a year for particular project / work sites due to climatic conditions etc.  All  these  factors  affect  the  completion  time  of  the  projects  / works.  Therefore,  it  is  quite  difficult  to  fix  definite  timelines  for completion of ROBs/RUBs.

Ministry  of  Railways  has  recently  launched  Amrit  Bharat  Station scheme.  This scheme  envisages  development of stations on a continuous basis with a long-term approach.  So far 1324 station have been identified under this scheme, out of which 80 stations including Bhind and Datia Railway stations in the state of Madhya Pradesh are identified  for  development  under  this  scheme.  At  Bhind  and  Datia railway stations, tenders have been awarded and various developmental works like improvements of buildings, platforms, circulating area etc. have been taken up.

The details of allocation for development and maintenance of stations are maintained zonal Railway-wise and not state-wise or station-wise or  work-wise.  Development  of  stations  and  provision  of  Passenger amenities including Amrit Bharat Station Scheme are generally funded under Plan Head - 53 'Customer Amenities'. Bhind and Datia Railway stations  falls  under  the  jurisdiction  of  North  Central  Railway.  During the year 2024-25, a total ₹ 788.71 crore has been allocated for North Central Railway.

Development/redevelopment/upgradation of Railway Stations is complex in nature involving safety of passengers & trains and requires various  statutory  clearances  such  as  fire  clearance,  heritage,  tree cutting, air-port clearance etc. The progress also gets affected due to brown field related challenges such as shifting of utilities, (involving water/sewage lines, optical fibre cables, gas pipe lines, power/signal cables  etc.,)  infringements,  operation  of  trains  without  hindering passenger movement, speed restrictions due to works carried out in close  proximity  of  high  voltage  power  lines  etc.  and  these  factors affect the completion time. Therefore, no time frame can be indicated at this stage.

*****