Lok Sabha Question No. 3175 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2025-03-19
Subject: Railway Projects in Assam and North-Eastern Region
Ministry: RAILWAYS
Asked by: Shri Phani Bhusan Choudhury

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF RAILWAYS

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 3175

## TO BE ANSWERED ON 19.03.2025

## RAILWAY PROJECTS IN ASSAM AND NORTH-EASTERN REGION

3175.   SHRI PHANI BHUSAN CHOUDHURY:

Will the Minister of RAILWAYS be pleased to state:

- (a) the  present  status  for  railway  line  from  Jogigopha  to  Amingaon  Via Barpeta and Hazo, which was survived earlier;
- (b) whether any commencement date has been proposed for this project;
- (c) whether there is any proposal for new railway line in Assam and NorthEastern Region; and
- (d) the  details  of  the  employment  recruitment  process  at  the  National Level?

## ANSWER

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

## (SHRI ASHWINI VAISHNAW)

- (a) to (c): Survey for construction of new line from Jogighopa - Guwahati via Barpetta, Sarthebari (136 Km.) has been completed. The project could not be taken forward due to low traffic projection.

Proposals/requests/suggestions/representations, both formal and informal for Railway  projects/Works  across  the  country  are  received  on  the  basis  of demands raised by State Governments, Members of Parliament, Ministries of Central Government, elected representatives, Railways' own requirements,

organizations/rail users etc. at various levels including Railway Board, Zonal Railways, Division Office etc. As receipt of such proposals/complaints/suggestions  is  a  continuous  and  dynamic  process, centralized compendium of such requests is not maintained. However, these are examined and action as found feasible and justified is taken from time to time.

In  last  3  years  (2021-22,  2022-23,  2023-24  and  current  Financial  Year  i.e. 2024-25), 21 surveys (17 New line & 04 Doubling) of total length 2,499 km falling  fully/partly  in  the  North  East  Region  including  the  State  of  Assam, have been sanctioned.

Further,  As  on  01.04.2024,  18  Railway  projects  (13  New  Lines  and  05 Doubling),  of  total  length  of  1,368  Km,  costing  Rs.74,972  crore  falling fully/partly  in  the  North  East  Region  including  the  State  of  Assam,  are  at various stages of planning and implementation, out of which 313 Km length has  been  commissioned  and  an  expenditure  of  Rs.40,549  crore  has  been incurred upto March 2024.

The status of work is summarized as under:-

| Plan Head   |   No. of projects |   Total Length (in Km) |   Length Commissioned (in Km) | Expenditure upto March, 2024 (Rs. in Cr.)   |
|-------------|-------------------|------------------------|-------------------------------|---------------------------------------------|
| New Lines   |                13 |                    896 |                            81 | 34,616                                      |
| Doubling    |                 5 |                    472 |                           232 | 5,933                                       |
| Total       |                18 |                   1368 |                           313 | 40,549                                      |

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.

Average Budget allocation for Infrastructure projects and other works, falling fully/ partly in North East Region including the State of Assam is as under:-

| Period   | Outlay                           |
|----------|----------------------------------|
| 2009-14  | Rs.2,122 Crore/year              |
| 2024-25  | Rs.10,376 Crore (Nearly 5 times) |

Commissioning of infrastructure projects falling fully/partly in the North East Region including the State of Assam is given below:

| Period   | New Track Commissioned   | Average Commissioning of new tracks   |
|----------|--------------------------|---------------------------------------|
| 2009-14  | 333 Km                   | 66.6 Km/year                          |
| 2014-24  | 1728 Km                  | 172.8 Km/year (Nearly 3 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.

- (d) Occurrence and filling up of vacancies is a continuous process on Indian Railways considering its size, spatial distribution and criticality of operation. Adequate  and  suitable  manpower  is  provided  to  cater  to  the regular  operations,  changes  in  technology,  mechanisations  and  innovative practices. The vacancies are filled up primarily by placement of indents by Railways  with  Recruitment  agencies  as  per  operational  and  technological requirements.

After  easing  of  restrictions  imposed  on  account  of  COVID  19,  two  major examinations involving more than 2.37 crore candidates have been conducted successfully during 2020 to 2022.

| Exam    | Candidates   |   Cities |   Centres |   Days |   Shifts |
|---------|--------------|----------|-----------|--------|----------|
| L2 - L6 | 1.26 cr      |      211 |       726 |     68 |      133 |
| L1      | 1.1 cr       |      191 |       551 |     33 |       99 |

Based on these exams, 130581 candidates have been recruited in Railways.

The  RRB  examinations  are  quite  technical  in  nature  entailing  large  scale mobilization  of  men  and  resources  and  training  of  manpower.  Railway overcame all these challenges and successfully conducted the recruitment in  a  transparent  manner  following  all  laid  down  guidelines.  No  instance  of paper leakage or similar malpractice has occurred during the entire process.

Recruitment done in Indian Railways during 2004-2005 to 2013-2014 vis-à-vis during 2014-2015 to 2023-2024 is given as under:-

| Period                 | Recruitments*   |
|------------------------|-----------------|
| 2004-2005 to 2013-2014 | 4.11 lakhs      |
| 2014-2015 to 2023-2024 | 5.02 lakhs      |

Further, as a system improvement, the Ministry of Railways has introduced a system of publishing annual calendar from 2024 for recruitment to various categories  of  Group  'C'  posts.  The  introduction  of  annual  calendar  will benefit the aspirants in the following manner:

-   More opportunities for candidates;
-   Opportunities to those becoming eligible every year;
-   Certainty of exams;
-   Faster Recruitment process, Training and Appointments

Accordingly, ten Centralized Employment Notifications (CENs) for 92116  vacancies have been notified during January to December 2024 for filling  up  of  posts  of  Assistant  Loco  Pilots,  Technicians,  Sub-Inspectors, Constables in Railway Protection Force (RPF), Junior Engineers (JEs)/ Depot Material Superintendent (DMS)/ Chemical & Metallurgical Assistant (CMA),

Paramedical Categories, Non-Technical Popular Categories (Graduate), NonTechnical Popular Categories (Under-Graduate), Ministerial & Isolated Categories and Level-1.

For  four  notifications,  Computer  Based  Tests  (CBTs)  have  been  completed from 25.11.2024 to 30.12.2024. The details are as under:-

| Exam                                                       | Candidates   |   Cities |   Centers |   Days |   Shifts |
|------------------------------------------------------------|--------------|----------|-----------|--------|----------|
| 1st Stage CBT for the post of ALP (18,799 vacancies)       | 18,40,347    |      156 |       346 |      5 |       15 |
| CBT for the post of RPF- SI (452 vacancies)                | 15,35,635    |      143 |       306 |      5 |       15 |
| 1st Stage CBT for the post of JE/DMS/CMA (7,951 vacancies) | 11,01,266    |      146 |       323 |      3 |        9 |
| CBT for the post of Technician (14,298 vacancies)          | 26,99,892    |      139 |       312 |      9 |       27 |

In addition, Computer Based Test for RPF CEN No. 02/2024 (4208 vacancies) for  the  post  of  Constable  has  started  from  02.03.2025  onwards.  2nd  Stage Computer Based Test (CBT-II) for CEN No. 01/2024, for the post of Assistant Loco Pilot is scheduled on 19.03.2025 and 20.03.2025

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