Lok Sabha Question No. 4563 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2025-08-20
Subject: ROBs in West Bengal
Ministry: RAILWAYS
Asked by: Shri Azad Kirti Jha

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA

## MINISTRY OF RAILWAYS

## LOK SABHA

UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 4563

## TO BE ANSWERED ON 20.08.2025

## ROBs IN WEST BENGAL

## 4563. SHRI AZAD KIRTI JHA:

Will the Minister of RAILWAYS be pleased to state:

- (a) the details of funds sanctioned, released and utilised so far and the current physical and financial percentage of work completed for the Kalna Gate Railway Over Bridge (ROB), Maya Bazar ROB and  Shaktigarh  ROB  respectively  of  Bardhaman-Durgapur  Lok Sabha Constituency, West Bengal;
- (b)
- whether there has been any delay in execution of the project;
- (c) if so, the details of the originally approved and revised timelines, reasons for delay and agencies responsible;
- (d) the measures taken/being taken/proposed by the Government to expedite completion including any review meetings held, updated completion deadlines and penalties (if any) imposed on contractors for delay; and
- (e) the status of other railway infrastructure projects being planned, sanctioned/under  implementation  in  West  Bengal  along  with timelines  and  budgetary  allocations  particularly  in  BardhamanDurgapur Lok Sabha Constituency?

## ANSWER

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

(SHRI ASHWINI VAISHNAW)

(a) to (e) : Sanctioning and execution of works of Road Over Bridges/ Road  Under  Bridges  (ROBs/RUBs)  is  a  continuous  and  ongoing process on Indian Railways. Such works are prioritized and taken up on the basis of its impact on safety and mobility in train operations and impact on road users.

Nos. 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. (including 510 Nos. in the State of West Bengal) |

As on 01.04.2025, 4,402 Nos. ROBs/ RUBs are sanctioned at the cost  of  ₹  1,00,860  Cr  on  Indian  Railways  including  251  Nos.  ROBs/ RUBs at the cost of ₹ 5,985 crore across railways tracks in lieu of LCs etc. in the State of West Bengal, which are at various stages of planning and execution. Out of which 16 Nos. ROBs/RUBs have been delayed  due  to  land  acquisition,  public  protest  and  consent  of closure, etc.

Further,  16  Nos.  ROBs/RUBs  out  of  251  Nos.  are  held  up  on account of the State Govt. The details are as under:

|   S.No. | Reason                                  |   ROBs/RUBs (in No.) |
|---------|-----------------------------------------|----------------------|
|       1 | Delay in Land Acquisition by State Govt |                    4 |
|       2 | Consent for Closure of LC by State Govt |                    4 |
|       3 | Law & order/ Public Protest etc.        |                    8 |

Presently,  42  Nos.  works  of  ROBs/RUBs  are    sanctioned  in Bardhaman-Durgapur Lok Sabha Constituency, which are at various stages of planning and execution.

The works for construction of Road Over Bridges (ROBs) in lieu of Level crossings (LCs) Nos. 44-B (Kalna Gate), 50A/T (ShaktiGarh) and  118  (Maya  Bazar)  was    sanctioned  in  year  2013-14  on  cost sharing basis with State Govt. of West Bengal.

Due to no response/ unwillingness regarding sharing of cost by State  Govt.,  these  works  have  not  progressed  so  far.  However keeping in view the persistent public demand & improving safety of the  train  operations  and  mobility  of  road  users,    these  works  have now  been  taken  up  at    railway  cost.  The  works  of  preparation  of alignment plan at these locations have been taken up.

Further, Railways have taken following measures to expedite the progress of ROB/RUB works:

-  Joint survey with concerned State Govt./Road Owning Authority is  done  before  finalizing  the  General  Arrangement  Drawing (GAD) to ensure smooth execution.
-  Periodic meetings of Railway & State Government officials are done to resolve various issues related to ROB/RUB works.
-  Standardization of superstructure drawings for various combinations of span, skewness and width of road on Railway portion  has  been  done  to  avoid  delays  during  the  design approval.  This  has  been  issued  in  the  form  of  compendium, which  can  be  directly  adopted  for  Road  Over  Bridge  across Railway lines for expeditious planning.
-  ROB/RUB works are planned to be executed on a single entity basis by Railway wherever possible. In case any Road Owning authority/State Govt. wants, then Railway may permit them to execute the work on a single entity basis.

The expenditure details are maintained Zonal Railway wise and not  Parliamentary  Constituency-wise.  Expenditure  for  road  safety works in Eastern Zone having jurisdiction over Bardhaman-Durgapur Lok Sabha Constituency during  last three years is  ₹ 898 crore.

Improvement of connectivity in Bardhaman-Durgapur region:

Budget allocation in the recent years has increased significantly. Budget allocation for infrastructure projects and safety works, falling fully/partly in the State of West Bengal is as under:-

| Period   | Outlay                           |
|----------|----------------------------------|
| 2009-14  | ₹ 4,380 Cr./year                 |
| 2025-26  | ₹ 13,955 Cr. (More than 3 times) |

To improve the connectivity in the Bardhaman-Durgapur region, work  of  Chandanpur-  Saktigarh  4th  line  (43  Km)  has  been  recently sanctioned. Further, following surveys have also been taken up:

|   SN | Survey                        |   Length (km) |
|------|-------------------------------|---------------|
|    1 | Khana-Sainthia 3rd, 4th Line  |            84 |
|    2 | Bardhaman-Khana 5th, 6th Line |            18 |
|    3 | Khana-Durgapur 5th, 6th Line  |            50 |

## Station redevelopment:

Upgradation / Modernisation of stations on Indian Railways is a continuous  and  ongoing  process  and  works  in  this  regard  are undertaken  as  per  requirement,  inter-se  priority,  availability  of funds. The priority for development / redevelopment / upgradation / modernisation of stations is accorded to higher category of station over lower category of station while sanctioning and executing the works.

To enhance customer experience and provide better amenities, Indian  Railways  has  launched  Amrit  Bharat  Station  Scheme  for redevelopment of stations with a long-term approach.

The  scheme  involves  preparation  of  master  plans  and  their implementation  in  phases  to  improve  the  stations.  The  master planning includes:

-  Improvement of access to station and circulating areas
-  Integration of station with both sides of city
- 
- Improvement of station building
-  Improvement  of  waiting  halls,  toilets,  sitting  arrangement, water booths
-  Provision of wider foot over bridge/air concourse commensurate with passenger traffic
-  Provision of lift/escalators/ramp
-  Improvement  /Provision  of  platform  surface  and  cover  over platforms
-  Provision  of  kiosks  for  local  products  through  schemes  like
- 'One Station One Product'
-  Parking areas, Multimodal integration
-  Amenities for Divyangjans
-  Better passenger information systems
-  Provision of executive lounges, nominated spaces for business meetings, landscaping, etc. keeping in view the necessity at each station

The  scheme  also  envisages  sustainable  and  environment friendly solutions, provision of ballastless tracks etc. as per necessity, phasing and feasibility and creation of city centre at the station in the long term.

So  far,  101  stations  in  West  Bengal  have  been  identified  for development  under  Amrit  Bharat  Station  Scheme,  This  incldues Panagarh and  Barddhaman  stations  of  Bardhaman  -  Durgapur  Lok Sabha Constituency.

Development  works  at  railway  stations  under  Amrit  Bharat Station Scheme in the state of West Bengal have been taken up at a good pace. Till now, phase-I works of 3 stations (Joychandi Pahar, Kalyani Ghoshpara and Panagarh) in the state of West Bengal have been completed under this scheme.

The  status  of  works  at  Barddhaman  station  of  Bardhaman  Durgapur Lok Sabha Constituency is as given below:.

-  Barddhaman  station:  The  works  of  construction  of  additional platform  shelter  and  improvement  of  platform  surfacing  have been completed. The works of new second entry station building, waiting hall, toilet, booking counter, improvement of circulating area and parking area have been taken up.

Development  /  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, airport  clearance  etc.  The  progress  also  gets  affected  due  to brownfield 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  tracks  and  high  voltage  power lines, etc. and these factors affect the completion time. Therefore, no time frame can be indicated at this stage.

Development / upgradation / modernisation of stations including  under  Amrit  Bharat  Station  Scheme  is  generally  funded under Plan Head-53 'Customer Amenities'. The details of allocation and expenditure under Plan Head-53 are maintained Zonal Railwaywise and not work-wise, or station wise or state-wise. The state of West Bengal is covered under the jurisdiction of four railway zones, namely Eastern Railway, Northeast Frontier Railway, South Eastern Railway,  and  Metro  Railway.  For  these  zones,  an  allocation  of  ₹ 1,317  crore  has  been  made  for  the  financial  year  2025-26,  out  of which  an  expenditure  (up  to  July,  2025)  of  ₹  374  crore  has  been incurred so far.

Completion  &  commissioning  of  Railway  project/s  including ROBs/RUBs works depends on following factors:-

-  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.
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