Lok Sabha Question No. 1825 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2025-07-30
Subject: Osmanabad-Beed-Aurangabad Rail Project
Ministry: RAILWAYS
Asked by: Shri Omprakash Bhupalsinh Alias Pavan Rajenimbalkar

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA

## MINISTRY OF RAILWAYS

## LOK SABHA

## UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 1825 TO BE ANSWERED ON 30.07.2025

## OSMANABAD-BEED-AURANGABAD RAIL PROJECT

†1825. SHRI OMPRAKASH BHUPALSINH ALIAS PAVAN RAJENIMBALKAR:

## Will the Minister of RAILWAYS be pleased to state:

- (a) the  details  of  the  steps  taken  by  the  Government  to  run  rail projects across the country in a robust manner;
- (b) the  date  on  which  Osmanabad-Beed-Aurangabad  rail  project survey was announced by the Union Government;
- (c) whether the survey of this route has been conducted/completed, if so, the details thereof;
- (d) whether  the  work  of  this  project  has  been  started,  if  so,  the current status thereof and if not, the reasons therefor;
- (e) the extent to which the work has been completed so far under this project;
- (f)
- the time by when the said project is likely to be completed; and
- (g) the  details  of  the  timeline  set  by  the  Government  for  the completion of the said project?

## ANSWER

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

- (a) to (g): Railway projects are sanctioned on the basis of remunerativeness,   traffic    projections,   last   mile   connectivity,

missing  links  (including  infrastructure  gaps)  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, across Indian Railways, 431 Railway infrastructure projects (154 New Line, 33 Gauge Conversion and 244 Doubling) of total length 35,966 Km, costing approx.  6.75 lakh crore are sanctioned, out of which, 12,769  Km length has been commissioned and an expenditure of approx. 2.91  lakh  crore  has been incurred upto March, 2025. The summary is as under:-

| Category                |   No of Projects | Total Length NL/GC/DL (km)   | Length Commissioned till Mar'25 (Km)   | Total Exp upto Mar'25 ( in Crore)   |
|-------------------------|------------------|------------------------------|----------------------------------------|-------------------------------------|
| New Lines               |              154 | 16,142                       | 3,036                                  | 1,45,318                            |
| Gauge Conversion        |               33 | 4,180                        | 2,997                                  | 22,753                              |
| Doubling/ Multitracking |              244 | 15,644                       | 6,736                                  | 1,22,858                            |
| Total                   |              431 | 35,966                       | 12,769                                 | 2,90,929                            |

The Average Annual Budget allocation for New  Line, Gauge Conversion  and  Doubling  Projects  across  Indian  Railways  is  given below:

| Period   | Outlay                        |
|----------|-------------------------------|
| 2009-14  | 11,527 crore/year             |
| 2025-26  | 68,785 crore (Nearly 6 times) |

The  details  of  commissioning/laying  of  new  track  across  Indian Railways is given below:-

| Period   | New track Commissioned   | Average commissioning of new tracks   |
|----------|--------------------------|---------------------------------------|
| 2009-14  | 7,599 Km                 | 4.2 Km/day                            |
| 2014-25  | 34,428 Km                | 8.57 Km/day (more than 2 times)       |

During the last three years i.e. FY 2022-23, 2023-24, 2024-25 and the current  FY,  237  projects  (40  New  Line,  17  Gauge  Conversion  and 180  Doubling)  of  total  length  9,703  Km  costing  approx. 1,90,333 Crore  have  been  sanctioned  across  the  country.  Similarly,  during this period, 892 surveys (267 New Line, 11 Gauge Conversion & 614 Doubling) of total length 61,462 Km have been sanctioned.

Final Location Survey (FLS) for New rail line between OsmanabadBeed-Aurangabad (240 km) has been sanctioned on 14.02.2025 for preparation of the Detailed Project Report (DPR).

After firming up of DPR, sanctioning of project requires consultation with various stake-holders including State Governments and necessary  approvals  viz. appraisal of NITI Aayog,  Ministry of Finance etc. As sanctioning of projects is a continuous and dynamic process, exact timelines cannot be fixed.

Railway  infrastructure  projects  falling  fully/partly  in  the  State  of Maharashtra are covered under Central Railway (CR), South Central Railway (SCR), Western  Railway  (WR),  South  East  Central  Railway (SECR) and South Western Railway (SWR) zones of Indian Railways. Zone-wise/year-wise details of all Railway projects are  made available in public domain on Indian Railway's website.

As on 01.04.2025, 38 projects (11 New Lines, 02 Gauge Conversions and 25 Doubling), of total length of 5,098 Km, costing 89,780 crore falling  fully/partly  in  Maharashtra  are  in  construction  stage,  out  of which 2360 km length has been commissioned and an expenditure of 39,407 crore has been incurred upto March, 2025. The status of work is summarized as under:-

| Plan Head                |   No. of projects |   Total Length (in Km) |   Length Commissioned (in Km) |   Expenditure upto March 2025 (₹ in Crore) |
|--------------------------|-------------------|------------------------|-------------------------------|--------------------------------------------|
| New Lines                |                11 |                   1355 |                           234 |                                      10504 |
| Gauge Conversion         |                 2 |                    609 |                           334 |                                       4286 |
| Doubling / Multitracking |                25 |                   3134 |                          1792 |                                      24617 |
| Total                    |                38 |                   5098 |                          2360 |                                      39407 |

Budget  allocation  for  Infrastructure  projects  and  safety  works, falling fully/ partly in the state of Maharashtra is as under:

| Period   | Outlay                            |
|----------|-----------------------------------|
| 2009-14  | 1,171 crore/year                  |
| 2025-26  | 23,778 crore (more than 20 times) |

The details of commissioning/laying of  new track falling fully/partly in the State of Maharashtra during 2009-14 and 2014-25 is as under:-

| Period   | New Track Commissioned   | Average Commissioning of new tracks   |
|----------|--------------------------|---------------------------------------|
| 2009-14  | 292 Km                   | 58.4 Km/year                          |
| 2014-25  | 2,292 Km                 | 208.36 km per year (Nearly 4 times)   |

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  and cost of the project/s.

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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