Lok Sabha Question No. 2709 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2024-08-07
Subject: Proposed Railway Lines Projects from Ayodhya and Ambedkar Nagar
Ministry: RAILWAYS
Asked by: Shri Lalji Verma

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF RAILWAYS

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 2709 TO BE ANSWERED ON 07.08.2024

## PROPOSED RAILWAY LINES PROJECTS FROM AYODHYA AND AMBEDKAR NAGAR

†2709. SHRI LALJI VERMA:

Will the Minister of RAILWAYS be pleased to state:

- (a) the year-wise number of new railway lines constructed from 2019 to  till  date  in  the  country,  especially  in  Ayodhya  and  Ambedkar Nagar  of  Uttar  Pradesh  along  with  the  number  of  new  trains introduced;
- (b) the  number  of  projects  announced  for  Ayodhya  and  Ambedkar Nagar districts since 2019 to till date; and
- (c) whether the Government proposes to formulate a new project to connect Basti district to Akabarpur Tanda of Ambedkar Nagar and if so, the timeline set for its completion?

## 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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O.I.H

STATEMENT  REFERRED  TO  IN  REPLY  TO  PARTS  (a)  TO  (c)  OF UNSTARRED  QUESTION  NO.  2709  BY  SHRI  LALJI  VERMA  TO  BE ANSWERED  IN  LOK  SABHA  ON  07.08.2024  REGARDING  PROPOSED RAILWAY LINES PROJECTS FROM AYODHYA AND AMBEDKAR NAGAR

(a) to (c): The Railway projects are sanctioned Zonal Railway wise and not State wise/District wise as the Railways' projects may span across state boundaries.

During the period 2019-20 till the current year 2024-25, 23 New Line projects  of  total  length  1428  km  costing 32,650  crore  have  been commissioned across Indian Railways including Ayodhya and Ambedkar  Nagar.  In  addition,  126  Multi-tracking  projects  of  total length  9,235  km,  costing 1,37,849  crore  and  19  Gauge  conversion projects of total length 2,784 km  costing 19,370 crore were commissioned during the same period.

Recently, capacity  augmentation  projects  i.e.  Doubling  of  BarabankiAkbarpur (161 Km) and Jaunpur- Akbarpur (Tanda) (77 Km) have been commissioned which fall fully /partly in Ayodhya and Ambedkar Nagar districts.

As on 01.04.2024, across Indian Railways, 488 Railway Infrastructure projects  (187  New  Line,  40  Gauge  Conversion  and  261  Doubling)  of total  length  44,488  Km,  costing approx. 7.44 lakh crore  are in planning/approval/construction stage, out of which, 12,045 Km length has been commissioned and an expenditure of approx.  2.92 lakh crore has been incurred upto March, 2024.

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

The  details  of  commissioning  of  New  Lines,  Gauge  Conversion  and Doubling sections across Indian Railways is given below:-

| Period   | Total Length Commissioned   | Average Length Commissioned   | Increase w.r.t. average commissioning during 2009-14   |
|----------|-----------------------------|-------------------------------|--------------------------------------------------------|
| 2009-14  | 7,599 km                    | 4.2 km/day                    | -                                                      |
| 2014-24  | 31,180 km                   | 8.54 km/day                   | More than 2 times                                      |
| 2023-24  | 5,309 km                    | 14.54 km/day                  | More than 3 times                                      |

Since  the  year  2019,  05  pairs  of  trains  including  03  pairs  of  Vande Bharat Express viz. 22549/50 Gorakhpur-Prayagraj  Vande Bharat Express,  22425/26  Ayodhya  Cantt-Anand  Vihar  (T)  Vande  Bharat Express and 22345/46 Patna-Gomtinagar Vande Bharat Express have been introduced to cater to the needs of passengers of Ayodhya Dham. Introduction  of  new  train  services  is  an  ongoing  process  on  Indian Railways  subject  to  traffic  justification,  operational  feasibility,  and availability of resources etc.

During  the  period  2019-20  till  current  Financial  Year,  11  projects  (1 New  Line  and  10  Doubling)  of  total  length  696  km  costing  approx. 9010 crore falling fully/partly in the state of Uttar Pradesh have been included  in  the  Budget  and  during  the  same  period,  25  projects  (03 New Line, 02 Gauge Conversion and 20 Doubling) of total length 702 km costing approx.  5157 Crore have been sanctioned. Some of these sanctioned  projects  passing  through  Ayodhya  and  Ambedkar  Nagar districts are Byepass line at Ayodhya (1.5 km) and Chord Line (6 km) at Ayodhya Cantt (between Salarpur-Masodha). Besides these, 157 stations  in  the  State  of  Uttar  Pradesh,  including  Ayodhya  Dham, Bharatkund, Darshannagar and Ramghat Halt in Ayodhya district and Akbarpur  Jn  in  Ambedkar  Nagar  district  have  been  identified  for development under the Amrit Bharat Station scheme.

Akbarpur,  Tanda  and  Basti  are  already  connected  via  Ayodhya  & Mankapur  on  Indian  Railway  Network.    However,  a  survey  of  Chord Line between Tanda-Akbarpur - Katahri (4 km) has been sanctioned for preparation of Detailed Project Report (DPR).  However, sanctioning of Railway  projects  is  a  continuous  and  dynamic  process  of  Indian Railway. Railway Infrastructure Projects are taken up on the basis of remunerativeness, last mile connectivity, missing links and alternate routes,  augmentation  of  congested/saturated  lines  socio-economic considerations  etc.  depending  upon  liabilities  of  ongoing  projects, overall availability of funds and competing demands.

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