Lok Sabha Question No. 1137 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2023-07-26
Subject: National Rail Plan in Assam
Ministry: RAILWAYS
Asked by: Kripanath Mallah

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA

## MINISTRY OF RAILWAYS

## LOK SABHA

UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 1137

TO BE ANSWERED ON 26.07.2023

NATIONAL RAIL PLAN IN ASSAM

## 1137.  SHRI KRIPANATH MALLAH:

Will the Minister of RAILWAYS be pleased to state:

- (a) the salient features of the National Rail Plan in Assam;
- (b) the details of the number of districts likely to be covered under this
- plan within Assam;
- (c) whether the Government has issued any funds for this plan within
- Assam so far;
- (d) if so, the details thereof;
- (e) the details of the target set under this plan;
- (f)  whether  the  Government  is  aware  that  there  is  an  urgent  public demand for construction of new Railway line from Panisagar (Tripura) to Aynakhal (Monacherra Assam via Dullabcherra, Ramkrishna Nagar) to connect from Agartala to Bhairabi of Mizoram State through 40 Km shorter route;
- (g)  whether  the  Government  is  likely  to  be  consider  to  include  the
- proposal of constructing this new line under National Rail Plan; and (h) if so, the details thereof?

## ANSWER

MINISTER OF RAILWAYS, COMMUNICATIONS AND ELECTRONICS & INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

(SHRI ASHWINI VAISHNAW)

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

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STATEMENT  REFERRED  TO  IN  REPLY  TO  PARTS  (a)  TO  (h)  OF UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 1137 BY SHRI KRIPANATH MALLAH TO BE ANSWERED IN LOK SABHA ON 26.07.2023 REGARDING NATIONAL RAIL PLAN IN ASSAM

(a) to (h) Indian Railways have prepared the National Rail Plan (NRP) to create a 'future ready' Railway system for India. It aims to formulate strategies based on both operational capacities and commercial policy initiatives to increase share of the Railways in freight transportation. The  objective  of  the  Plan  is  to  create  capacity  ahead  of  demand, which in turn  would  also  cater  to  the  future  growth  in  demand  upto 2050.

The  NRP  is  for  the  entire  Indian  Railways  network  and  not  only  for districts  connected  to  the  existing  rail  network  but  also  districts indirectly  impacted  by  rail  transportation.  In  effect  virtually  all  the districts of the country get linked including the districts of Assam.

The main features of the National Rail Plan are:-

-  Strategies based on both operational capacities and commercial policy initiatives to increase modal share of the Railways in freight to 40-45% and sustain it.
-  Estimation of Rail freight share, demand  forecast, Rail Network  demand,  capacity  utilisation  and  identification  of bottleneck sections.
-  Identification of  future  Dedicated  Freight  Corridors,  High Speed  Rail  Corridors,  High  Density  Networks  and  Highly utilised Networks.
-  Reduction in transit time of freight substantially by increasing average speed of freight trains.
-  As part of the National Rail Plan, certain critical and important projects such as 100% electrification, multitracking  of  congested  routes,  upgradation  of  speed  to  160 kmph on Delhi-Howrah and Delhi-Mumbai routes, upgradation of speed to 130 kmph on all other Golden Quadrilateral-Golden
- Diagonal (GQ/GD) routes and elimination of all Level Crossings on all GQ/GD route etc. have been taken up on priority.
-  Assessment  of  rolling stock requirements for  passenger traffic as well as wagon requirements for freight.
-  Assessment of Locomotive requirements to meet twin objectives of 100% electrification (Green Energy) and increasing freight modal share.
-  Assessment of the total investment in capital that would be required along with a periodical break up.

Railway projects are not sanctioned State-wise,  they are sanctioned Zonal Railway-wise as projects may span across the State boundaries. Railway projects falling full/partly in the State of Assam are served by Northeast  Frontier  Railway.  As  on  01.04.2023,  13  projects  (08  New 39,584 crore for 1,331 km length falling fully/ partly in Assam are in planning/ approval/ construction stage, out of which 420 km length has been commissioned and an expenditure of 12163 crore has been incurred upto March 2023. For these projects,

Line and 05 Doubling) costing ` ` an outlay of ` 2800 crore has been provided for year 2023-24. Projects  over  Indian  Railways  are  sanctioned  based  on  operational requirement,  technical  feasibility,  commercial  viability  and  resource availability.  Panisagar,  Monacherra  and  Dullabcherra  are  existing stations on  Indian  Rail Network.  Presently,  the  priority is early completion  of  Bhairabi-Sairang  new  line  (51  km)  project  to  provide capital connectivity to State of Mizoram.

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