Lok Sabha Question No. 1464 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2024-12-04
Subject: Railway Electrification
Ministry: RAILWAYS
Asked by: Dr. Shivaji Bandappa Kalge, Dr. K Sudhakar, Shri Mukeshkumar Chandrakaant Dalal, Shri Shankar Lalwani, Dr. Alok Kumar Suman, Dr. Rajesh Mishra, Shri Dineshbhai Makwana, Shri Vijay Kumar Dubey

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA

## MINISTRY OF RAILWAYS

## LOK SABHA

UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 1464

TO BE ANSWERED ON 04.12.2024

## RAILWAY ELECTRIFICATION

## 1464. SHRI SHANKAR LALWANI:

DR. K SUDHAKAR:

DR. RAJESH MISHRA:

SHRI DINESHBHAI MAKWANA:

SHRI VIJAY KUMAR DUBEY:

DR. SHIVAJI BANDAPPA KALGE:

SHRI MUKESHKUMAR CHANDRAKAANT DALAL:

DR. ALOK KUMAR SUMAN:

Will the Minister of RAILWAYS be pleased to state:

- (a) whether the Government has the specific statistics regarding India's railway electrification, including the percentage of tracks electrified and the total length of electrified routes and if so, the details thereof;
- (b) whether the  Government  has  any  road map  regarding electrification tracks specially in Marathwada region;
- railway
- (c)  whether  the  Government  has  data  regarding  steps  taken  to  ensure having clean railway tracks and coaches and if so, the details thereof;
- (d)  whether  the  Government has data regarding the  Kavach installation
- across the country, if so, complete details thereof;
- (e)  whether  any  new  tracks,  trains  or  large  scale  projects  are  being considered for the State of Karnataka, if so, the details thereof; and
- (f) whether any steps are being taken to reduce the congestion in major trains through Karnataka and if so, the details thereof?

## ANSWER

MINISTER OF RAILWAYS, INFORMATION & BROADCASTING AND

ELECTRONICS & INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

(SHRI ASHWINI VAISHNAW)

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

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STATEMENT  REFERRED  TO  IN  REPLY  TO  PARTS  (a)  TO  (f)  OF UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 1464 BY SHRI SHANKAR LALWANI, DR. K SUDHAKAR, DR. RAJESH MISHRA, SHRI DINESHBHAI MAKWANA, SHRI VIJAY KUMAR DUBEY, DR. SHIVAJI BANDAPPA KALGE, SHRI MUKESHKUMAR  CHANDRAKAANT  DALAL  AND  DR.  ALOK  KUMAR SUMAN TO BE ANSWERED IN LOK SABHA ON 04.12.2024 REGARDING RAILWAY ELECTRIFICATION

(a)  and  (b)  Indian  Railways  (IR)  has  taken  up  electrification  of  Broad  Gauge (BG) Railway lines in a Mission mode. Electrification done during 2014-24 and prior to 2014 is as under:

| Period        | Electrification done (RKM)                       |
|---------------|--------------------------------------------------|
| Prior to 2014 | 21,801 RKM                                       |
| 2014-24       | 44,199 RKM (including 30,512 RKM during 2019-24) |

At  present,  97%  of  the  total  BG  network  of  the  Indian  Railways  has been electrified. BG rail network in the state of Maharashtra including Marathwada region has been electrified.

- (c)  Cleanliness  is  a  continuous  process  and  Indian  Railways  make every endeavour to keep coaches and tracks in clean condition. In this regard, major steps taken are as under:
- Cleaning  of  coaches  including  toilets  of  trains  is  done  at  both ends including mechanized cleaning.
- On  Board  Housekeeping  Service  (OBHS)  has  been  provided  in important long distance Mail/Express trains for cleaning of coach toilets, doorways, aisles and passenger compartments during the run of trains.
- Clean Train Station (CTS) scheme has been prescribed for limited mechanized  cleaning attention to identified trains including cleaning  of  toilets  during  their  scheduled  stoppages  enroute  at nominated stations.
- Automatic Coach Washing Plants (ACWP) have been installed at major  depots  for  more  effective  and  efficient  cleaning  of  coach exterior.
- Pest & Rodent control is done in All AC, Non AC reserved and unreserved coaches including pantry cars.
- Special Cleanliness Campaigns under Swachh Bharat Abhiyan and cleanliness  drives  are  organized  regularly  with  the  objective  to achieve significant and sustainable improvements in cleanliness standards of trains.
- Frequent  surprise  inspections/checks  are  conducted  by  senior
- officials on overall cleanliness coaches.
- Provision of Bio toilets in all toilets of passenger coaches.
- ●

## (d)

- Kavach  is  an  indigenously  developed  Automatic  Train  Protection (ATP)  system.  Kavach  is  a  highly  technology  intensive  system, which requires safety certification of highest order (Safety Integrity
1. Level-4).
2. Kavach  aids  the  Loco  Pilot  in  running  of  train  within  specified speed limits by automatic application of brakes in case Loco Pilot fails  to  do  so  and  also  helps  the  trains  to  run  safely  during
- inclement weather.
3. The  first  field  trials  on  the  passenger  trains  were  started  in February  2016.  Based  on  the  experience  gained  and  Independent Safety Assessment of the system by Independent Safety Assessor (ISA), three firms were approved in 2018-19, for supply of Kavach Ver 3.2.
- 4.
- Kavach was adopted as National ATP system in July 2020.
5. Implementation of Kavach System involves following Key Activities:
- Installation of Station Kavach at each and every station, block
- a. section.
- b.
- Installation of RFID Tags throughout the track length.
- c. Installation of telecom Towers throughout the section.
- d.
- Laying of Optical Fibre Cable along the track.
- e. Provision of Loco Kavach on each and every Locomotive running on Indian Railways.
6. Based on deployment of Kavach version 3.2 on 1465 RKM on South Central  Railway,  lot  of  experience  was  gained.  Using  that  further improvements were made. Finally, Kavach specification version 4.0 was approved by RDSO on 16.07.2024.
7. Kavach version 4.0 covers all the  major features required for the diverse railway network. This is a significant milestone in safety for Indian  Railways.  Within  a  short  period,  IR  has  developed,  tested and started deploying Automatic Train Protection System.
8. Major  improvement  in  Version  4.0  includes  increased  Location Accuracy, Improved Information of Signal Aspects in bigger yard, Station to Station Kavach interface on OFC and Direct Interface to existing Electronic Interlocking System. With these improvements, Kavach Ver.4.0. is planned for large scale deployment over Indian Railways.
9. Progress  of  Key  items  comprising  Kavach  system  on  Indian Railways upto Oct' 2024 is as under: -
10. Next phase of Kavach implementation is planned as under:-
- a. Project for equipping 10,000 Locomotives has been finalized.
- b. Bids  for  track  side  Works  of  Kavach  for  approximately  15000 RKM have been invited.  It covers all GQ, GD, HDN and Identified sections of Indian Railways.
11. Currently,  3  OEMs  are  approved  for  supply  of  Kavach  System.  To increase capacity and scale of implementation, trials and approval of more OEMs are at different stages.
12. Specialized training programme on Kavach are being conducted at centralized training institutes of Indian Railways to impart training

| SN.   | Items                                | Progress   |
|-------|--------------------------------------|------------|
| i     | Laying of Optical Fibre Cable        | 5116 Km    |
| ii    | Installation of Telecom Towers       | 538 Nos.   |
| iii   | Provision of Kavach at Stations      | 521 Nos.   |
| iv    | Provision of Kavach in Loco          | 687 Locos  |
| v     | Installation of Track side equipment | 3413 RKM   |

to  all  concerned  officials.  By  now  more  than  9000  technicians, operators and engineers have been trained on Kavach technology. Courses have been designed in collaboration with IRISET.

(e)  and  (f)  Railway  infrastructure  projects  falling  fully/partly  in  the State of Karnataka are covered under South Western Railway (SWR), Central Railway  (CR), Southern  Railway  (SR) and  South  Central Railway (SCR) Zone of Indian Railways. Zonal Railway wise details of Railway  projects  including  cost,  expenditure  and  outlay  are  made available in public domain on Indian Railway's website.

As on 01.04.2024, 31 Projects (21 new lines and 10 Doubling) of total length of 3,840 Km, costing Rs. 47,016 crore, falling fully/partly in the State of Karnataka, are at various stages of planning and implementation, out of which 1,302 Km length has been commissioned and an expenditure of Rs. 17,382 crore has been incurred upto March, 2024.

The status of work is summarized as :-

| Category                |   No. of projects | Total Length (in Km)   | Length Commissioned (in Km)   | Expenditure upto March 2024 (in Rs. Cr.)   |
|-------------------------|-------------------|------------------------|-------------------------------|--------------------------------------------|
| New Line                |                21 | 2,556                  | 395                           | 7,592                                      |
| Doubling/ Multitracking |                10 | 1,284                  | 907                           | 9,791                                      |
| Total                   |                31 | 3,840                  | 1,302                         | 17,382                                     |

Budget  allocation  for  Infrastructure  projects  and  safety  works, falling fully/partly in Karnataka is as under:

| Period   | Outlay                               |
|----------|--------------------------------------|
| 2009-14  | Rs. 835 crore/year                   |
| 2024-25  | Rs. 7,559 crore ( more than 9 times) |

The details of commissioning/laying of new track falling fully/partly  in  the  State  of  Karnataka  during  2009-14  and  2014-24  is given below:

| Period   | Total Track Commissioned   |
|----------|----------------------------|
| 2009-14  | 565 Km                     |
| 2014-24  | 1,633 Km (about 3 times)   |

Further,  survey  of  total  56  projects  (19  new  line  and  37  doubling)  of total length 6159 Km falling fully/partly in the State of Karnataka have been sanctioned during last three year (2021-22, 2022-23, 2023-24 and current financial year 2024-25).

Sanctioning of Railway projects is a continuous and dynamic process of Indian Railway. Railway infrastructure projects are taken up on the basis of  remunerativeness, traffic projections, 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.

After  firming  up  of  Detailed  Project  Report  (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.

Indian  Railways  (IR),  operates  various  types  of  regular  time-tabled trains e.g. suburban, short distance passenger trains, long distance/Mail  Express/  Superfast  trains  with  different  compositions catering to different segments of passengers.  Besides, in its constant endeavour to provide additional accommodation to travelling passengers,  IR  also  operates  Special  train  services  during  festivals, holidays, etc. and by augmenting the load of trains including that with Sleeper  Class  Coaches,  both  on  permanent  and  temporary  basis,  to cater  to  additional  demand.  These  are  on-going  processes  on  Indian Railways. Accordingly, during the year 2024, 13523 trips special trains were operated to meet the extra rush of passengers during Holi and summer vacation. To cater to the rush during Durga Pooja/Dipawali/Chhath,    7983  trips  of  Special  trains  have  also  been notified  during the period 1st October, 2024 to 30th November, 2024, to  serve approximately 1.8 crore passengers.

IR  also  augments  the  load  of  trains,  both  on  a  permanent  and temporary  basis,  to  generate  additional  accommodation  for  different segments of passengers. During the 2023-24, 872 coaches have been utilized for augmentation of train services on a permanent basis while during  the  year  2024-25(till  October,  2024),  664  coaches  have  been utilized for permanent augmentation. However, as the Railway network straddles across State boundaries, trains are operated as per network requirements, across such boundaries.

To cater to the needs of stations located in the State of Karnataka, 8 pairs of new train services including 5 pairs of Vande Bharat train and one  pair  of  Amrit  Bharat  Express  viz.  13433/13434  SMVT  BengaluruMalda Town Amrit Bharat Express have been introduced during 20232024. During the current financial year,   06 pairs of trains including 03 pairs  of  Vande  Bharat  services  have  also  been  introduced.  Besides, introduction  of  trains  is  an  on-going  process  on  Indian  Railways subject to traffic justification, operational feasibility and availability of resources etc..

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