Lok Sabha Question No. 36 (STARRED), answered on 2024-07-24
Subject: Railway Lines under Mumbai Region
Ministry: RAILWAYS
Asked by: Shri Balya Mama Suresh Gopinath Mhatre

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF RAILWAYS

## LOK SABHA STARRED QUESTION No. 36 TO BE ANSWERED ON 24.07.2024

## RAILWAY LINES UNDER MUMBAI REGION

- †*36   SHRI BALYA MAMA SURESH GOPINATH MHATRE:

Will the Minister of RAILWAYS be pleased to state:

- (a) whether the Government has taken any decision regarding laying of Vasai to Diva railway line falling under the Mumbai region;
- (b) if so, the details along with the present status thereof;
- (c) the  details  of  total  area  of  land  acquired  for    laying  of  above mentioned railway line; and
- (d) the  detailed  information  with  regard  to  the  time  duration  and estimated cost of laying of the said railway line?

## ANSWER

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

(SHRI ASHWINI VAISHNAW)

- (a) to (d): A Statement is laid on the Table of the House.

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STATEMENT REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO PARTS (a) TO (d) OF STARRED QUESTION NO. 36  BY SHRI BALYA MAMA SURESH GOPINATH MHATRE TO BE ANSWERED IN LOK SABHA ON 24.07.2024 REGARDING RAILWAY LINES UNDER MUMBAI REGION

(a) to (d): Vasai to Diva is already an existing double broad gauge line section.    Construction  of  Western  DFC  on  parallel  alignment  is  also  in progress.  Further,  construction  of  Vasai  bye  pass  line  (Double  line) between Naigaon and Juchandra (5.73 Km) has been sanctioned. Further extension of these corridors for future demands on suburban corridors is a continuous process.  Moreover, Panvel-Virar new suburban corridor is also taken under consideration at a cost of ₹7,184 crore on 50:50 cost sharing  basis  with  Govt.  of  Maharashtra  as  a  part  of  Mumbai  Urban Transport Project (MUTP).

Further,  to  avoid  congestions  on  suburban  corridors  and  to  meet the  future  demands,  MUTP-III  costing  ₹10,947  crore  and  MUTP-IIIA costing  ₹33,690  crore  have  been  sanctioned  .  These  projects  include following additional 10 rail links :

|   S.No. | Name of project                                         |   Cost (₹ in crore) |
|---------|---------------------------------------------------------|---------------------|
|       1 | 5th & 6th Line CSTM-Kurla (17.5 km)                     |                 891 |
|       2 | 6th Line Mumbai Central-Borivali (30 km)                |                 919 |
|       3 | Panvel-Karjat Suburban corridor (29.6 km)               |                2782 |
|       4 | Airoli-Kalwa (elevated) suburban corridor link (3.3 km) |                 476 |
|       5 | Quadrupling of Virar-Dahanu Road 3rd & 4th Line (64 km) |                3587 |
|       6 | Extension of Harbour Line Goregaon-Borivali (7 km)      |                 826 |
|       7 | 5th & 6th line Borivali-Virar (26 km)                   |                2184 |
|       8 | 4th line between Kalyan-Asangaon (32 km)                |                1759 |
|       9 | 3rd & 4th line between Kalyan-Badlapur (14.05 km)       |                1510 |
|      10 | Kalyan Yard-Segregation of Main Line & Suburban         |                 866 |

All  these  MUTP  projects  have  been  sanctioned  on  cost  sharing of Maharashtra.  However,  Maharashtra  Govt.  was  not  providing  requisite funds on time as per the commitment till 2022-23, resulting in delay in completion  of  the  projects.  Government  of  Maharashtra  has  started basis 50:50 between Ministry of Railways and Government funding for MUTP-IIIA projects from April 2023.

Railway projects are sanctioned Zonal Railway-wise and not Statewise  as  Indian  Railways'  projects  may  span  across  State  boundaries. However, as on 01.04.2024, 41 Railway infrastructure projects (16 New Line, 02 Gauge Conversion and 23 Doubling), of total length of 5,877 km costing ₹81,580 crore falling fully/partly in the State of Maharashtra are in  planning/approval/construction stages, out of which 1,926 km length has been commissioned and an expenditure of ₹31,236 crore has been incurred upto March 2024. These include-

- (i) 16  New  Line  projects  of  total  length  of  2,017  km  costing  ₹8,529 crore, out of which 166 km length has been commissioned and an expenditure of ₹8,529 crore has been incurred upto March 2024.
- (ii) 2  Gauge  Conversion  projects  of  total  length  of  609  km  costing ₹7,339 crore, out of which 312 km length has been commissioned and an expenditure of ₹3,332 crore has been incurred upto March 2024.
- (iii) 23  doubling  projects  of  total  length  of  3,251  km  costing  ₹35,818 crore, out of which 1448 km length has been commissioned and an expenditure of ₹19,376 crore has been incurred upto March 2024.

Railway  infrastructure  projects  falling  fully/partly  in  the  State  of Maharashtra  are  covered  in  Central  Railway,  South  Central  Railway, South  East  Central Railway,  South  Western  Railway  and  Western Railway  Zones  of  Indian  Railways.  Zone-wise  and  Year-wise  details  of railway projects including their cost, source of funds, expenditure  and outlay are made available in public domain on Indian Railways website.

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

| Period   | Average Outlay   | Increase as compared to average allocation during 2009-14   |
|----------|------------------|-------------------------------------------------------------|
| 2009-14  | ₹1171 crore/year | -                                                           |
| 2014-24  | ₹7197 crore/year | 6.1 times                                                   |
| 2023-24  | ₹13539 crore     | 11.56 times                                                 |

The  details  of  commissioning  of  infrastructure  projects  falling fully/partly in the State of Maharashtra, is as under:-

| Period   | Total Track Commissioned   | Average Track Commissioned   | Increase w.r.t. average commissioning during 2009-14   |
|----------|----------------------------|------------------------------|--------------------------------------------------------|
| 2009-14  | 292 Km                     | 58.4 km/year                 | -                                                      |
| 2014-24  | 1830 Km                    | 183 km/year                  | 3.13 times                                             |

In 2023-24 total 358 kms have been commissioned which is more than 6 times as compared to average commissioning during 2009-14.

Completion  of  Railway  project/s  depends  on  various  factors  like 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  due  to  climatic conditions  etc.  All  these  factors  affect  the  completion  time  of  the project/s.

Various  steps  taken  by  the  Government  for  effective  and  speedy implementation  of  rail projects include (i) substantial  increase in allocation  of  funds,  (ii)  delegation  of  powers  at  field  level,  (iii)  close monitoring of progress of project at various levels (iv) 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.

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