Lok Sabha Question No. 2641 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2024-12-11
Subject: Construction of Howrah-Mumbai Railway line in Chhattisgarh
Ministry: RAILWAYS
Asked by: Shri Brijmohan Agrawal

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF RAILWAYS

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO.2641 TO BE ANSWERED ON 11.12.2024

## CONSTRUCTION OF HOWRAH-MUMBAI RAILWAY LINE

## IN CHHATTISGARH

†2641.   SHRI BRIJMOHAN AGRAWAL:

Will the Minister of RAILWAYS be pleased to state:

- (a)  whether  the  construction  work  of  the  fourth  line  of  Howrah  Mumbai railway line in Chhattisgarh State has been allotted and if so, the detail of the commencement of construction work and time by which it is  likely to be completed, time, agency and location-wise;
- (b)  the  details  of  the  percentage  of  the  work  done  till  date  and  the remaining work likely to be completed;
- (c) the status of pending rail projects in Chhattisgarh such as construction of new railway lines,  doubling or modernization of railway lines, project wise; and
- (d)  whether  the  construction  of    new  railway  line  or  special  freight corridor is proposed to facilitate industrial and mineral transportation in Chhattisgarh  and  if  so,  the  details  thereof  and  the  time  by    which  it  is planned to be completed?

## ANSWER

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

## (SHRI ASHWINI VAISHNAW)

- (a)  to  (d)  Railway  projects  are  surveyed/  sanctioned/executed  Zonal Railway  wise  and  not  State-wise  as  the  Railways'  projects  may  span across State 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, socio-economic considerations etc. depending upon throwforward of ongoing projects and overall availability of funds.

Zone-wise/year-wise details of all Railway projects including cost, expenditure  and  outlay  are  made  available  in  public  domain  on  Indian Railway's website.

As  on  01.04.2024,  25  projects(08  New  Lines  and  17  Doubling),  covering total length of 2,731 Km length, costing Rs.37,018 crore, falling fully/partly in  the  state  of  Chhattisgarh,  are  at  various  stages  of    planning  and implementation, out of which 882 Km length has been commissioned and an  expenditure  of  Rs.14,919  crore  has  been  incurred  upto  March'  2024. The status of the work is summarized as:

| Category                 |   No. of projects |   Total Length NL/GC/DL (in Km) |   Length Commissioned till March'24 (Km) |   Total Exp upto Mar'24 (Rs. in Cr) |
|--------------------------|-------------------|---------------------------------|------------------------------------------|-------------------------------------|
| New Lines                |                 8 |                            1358 |                                      184 |                                6154 |
| Doubling / Multitracking |                17 |                            1373 |                                      698 |                                8765 |
| Total                    |                25 |                            2731 |                                      882 |                               14919 |

Further, 649 Km 3 rd  and 4 th  line is also sanctioned in Howrah-Mumbai route in  the  state  of  Chhattisgarh.  446  Km  out  of  this  649  Km  is  already commissioned.  Survey  for  construction  of  105  Km  4 th   line  on  this  busy route is also sanctioned.

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

| Period    | Outlay                           |
|-----------|----------------------------------|
| 2009-2014 | Rs.311 Cr/year                   |
| 2024-2025 | Rs.6922 Cr ( More than 22 times) |

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

| Period   | Total Length Commissioned   | Average Length Commissioned         |
|----------|-----------------------------|-------------------------------------|
| 2009-14  | 32 km                       | 6.4 km/Year                         |
| 2014-24  | 999 km                      | 99.9 km/Year ( more than 15 times ) |

The completion of any Railway project depends on various factors like quick  land  acquisition  by  State  Government,  forest  clearance  by officials  of  forest  department,  deposition  of  cost  share  by  State Government in cost  sharing projects,  priority  of  projects,  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 due to climatic conditions etc.

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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