Lok Sabha Question No. 1572 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2024-12-04
Subject: Rail Service in the Areas of Tourists and Cultural Importance
Ministry: RAILWAYS
Asked by: Shri Chandra Prakash Choudhary

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF RAILWAYS

LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 1572 TO BE ANSWERED ON 04.12.2024

## RAIL SERVICE IN THE AREAS OF TOURISTS AND CULTURAL IMPORTANCE

†1572. SHRI CHANDRA PRAKASH CHOUDHARY:

Will the Minister of RAILWAYS be pleased to state:

- (a) whether  any  project  has  been  approved  to  connect  places  of tourist  and  cultural  importance  with  rail  facility  in  the  country
- during the last three years and if so, the details thereof; (b) whether any project has been sanctioned in this regard in Giridih Lok Sabha constituency of Jharkhand; and (c) if so, the details thereof?

## ANSWER

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

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

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STATEMENT  REFERRED  TO  IN  REPLY  TO  PARTS  (a)  TO  (c)  OF UNSTARRED  QUESTION  NO.  1572  BY  SHRI  CHANDRA  PRAKASH CHOUDHARY TO  BE  ANSWERED  IN  LOK  SABHA  ON  04.12.2024 REGARDING  RAIL  SERVICE  IN  THE  AREAS  OF  TOURISTS  AND CULTURAL IMPORTANCE

(a) to (c): Railway  projects  are  surveyed/  sanctioned/executed  Zonal Railway wise and not State-wise/ Parliamentary constituency-wise as the Railway projects may span across State boundaries/ Parliamentary constituency 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, socioeconomic considerations, tourist potential etc. depending upon throwforward of ongoing projects and overall availability of funds.

During  the  last  03  years  i.e.  FY  2021-22,  2022-23,  2023-24  and  in current  FY  2024-25,  192  projects  (New  Line,  Gauge  Conversion  and Doubling)  of  total  length  7,697  Km  costing  approx. 1,44,039  Crore have  been  sanctioned  across  the  country  will  inter-alia  enhance connectivity to tourist and cultural places.

## JHARKHAND

Railway  infrastructure  projects  falling  fully/partly  in  the  State  of Jharkhand are covered by East Central Railway (ECR), Eastern Railway (ER) and  South  Eastern  Railway (SER) Zone of Indian Railways. Zonal Railway  wise  details  of  Railway  projects  including  cost,  expenditure and outlay are made available in public domain.

As  on  01.04.2024,  32  Railway  projects  (11  New  Lines,  01  Gauge Conversions  and  20  Doubling),  of  total  length  of  3,070  Km,  costing 52,885  crore,  falling  fully/partly  in  the  State  of  Jharkhand  including Giridih  are  in  planning/approval/construction  stage,  out  of  which  744 Km  length  has  been  commissioned  and  an  expenditure  of 15,986 crore has been incurred upto March'24. The summary is as under:-

| Category                |   No. of projects |   Total Length (in Km) |   Length Commissioned (Km) |   Exp upto March 2024 ( in cr.) |
|-------------------------|-------------------|------------------------|----------------------------|---------------------------------|
| New lines               |                11 |                   1069 |                        156 |                            3549 |
| Gauge conversion        |                 1 |                    159 |                         90 |                             184 |
| Doubling/ Multitracking |                20 |                   1842 |                        497 |                           12254 |
| Total                   |                32 |                   3070 |                        744 |                           15986 |

These  include  Multitracking  of  Son  Nagar-Andal  (374  Km),  Byepass line  at  Madhupur  (7.40  Km)  and  Parasnath  -  Madhuban-  Giridih  New line (49 Km) falling fully/partly in Giridih.

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

| Period   | Outlay                       |
|----------|------------------------------|
| 2009-14  | 457 crore/year               |
| 2024-25  | 7,302 crore (About 16 times) |

The details of commissioning / laying of  new track falling fully/partly in the State of Jharkhand during 2009-14 and 2014-24 is as under :-

| Period   | New Track Commissioned   | Average Commissioning of new tracks   |
|----------|--------------------------|---------------------------------------|
| 2009-14  | 287 Km                   | 57.4 Km/year                          |
| 2014-24  | 1,218 Km                 | 121.8 Km/year (More than 2 times)     |

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