Lok Sabha Question No. 5235 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2025-04-02
Subject: Enhancement of High-speed Rail Connectivity
Ministry: RAILWAYS
Asked by: Shri Pushpendra Saroj

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF RAILWAYS

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 5235 TO BE ANSWERED ON 02.04.2025

## ENHANCEMENT OF HIGH-SPEED RAIL CONNECTIVITY

5235. SHRI PUSHPENDRA SAROJ:

Will the Minister of RAILWAYS be pleased to state:

- (a)  whether the Government is taking steps to enhance high-speed rail connectivity  and  improve  the  efficiency  of  existing  railway  networks particularly  in  overburdened  corridors  like  Delhi-Mumbai  and  DelhiKolkata, if so, the details thereof;
- (b)  whether  many  railway  stations  across  the  country  still  lack  basic amenities such as clean waiting areas, escalators and adequate security measures despite the push for railway mordernization, if so, the details thereof; and
- (c)  the  specific  plans  of  the  Government  to  upgrade  railway  stations especially in tier-2 and tier-3 cities to improve passenger experience and safety?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF RAILWAYS, INFORMATION & BROADCASTING AND ELECTRONICS & INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY (SHRI ASHWINI VAISHNAW)

(a)  to  (c):  Presently,  Mumbai-Ahmedabad  High  Speed  Rail  (MAHSR) Project (508 Kms) is the only sanctioned project of High Speed Rail in India  under  execution  with  technical  and  financial  assistance  from Government of Japan.

Being highly capital intensive, the decision to  sanction  any  HSR Corridor/Project  depends  on  many  factors  such  as  outcome  of  DPR, techno-economic feasibility,  availability  of  resources  such  as  financing options.

In order to increase the speed and capacity of Delhi-Mumbai and DelhiHowrah routes, following works/surveys have been taken up:

## Delhi-Mumbai section (1386 Km):

1. The  work  for  raising  sectional  speed  to  160  kmph  has  been sanctioned and is in advance stage.
2. Out  of  1386  Km  route  length,  196  Km  has  4  rail  lines  and construction  of  3 rd  &  4 th   line  between  Dahanu  Road-Virar  (64  Km) has been taken up.
3. Survey for 3 rd  and 4 th   line  in  the balance section for 1126 KM has-
4. been sanctioned.
4. 1404 Km of Western DFC (double line) has been commissioned and the work in the balance section for 102 Km has been taken up.
5. Construction  of  Mumbai-Ahmedabad  High  Speed  Corridor  (double line) covering length of 508 Km has been taken up.

## Delhi-Howrah section (1450 Km):

1. The  work  for  raising  sectional  speed  to  160  kmph  has  been sanctioned and is in advance stage.
2. Presently, out of 1450 Km route length, 194 Km is 4 line section, 312  Km  is  3  line  section  and  balance  944  Km  is  double  line  rail section.
3. 3.
4. Following projects have been sanctioned and work taken up:
5.  Multi tracking of Son Nagar - Andal (375 Km)
6. 
7. Aligarh  - Daud Khan 3 rd  line (18 Km)
8.  Mughalsarai - Allahabad  3 rd  line (150 Km)
9.  Kalipahari-Bakhtarnagar 5 th  Line (18 Km)
10.  Saktigarh-Chandanpur 4 th  line (43 Km)
11.  Extension of Nimcha up avoiding line (9.42 Km)
4. Surveys for construction of 3 rd  line of 480 km, 4 th  line of 96 Km and
13. 5th line of 151 Km have been sanctioned.
14. Eastern DFC (1337 Km) has been commissioned.
15. 5.

Augmentation/Improvement of passenger amenities on Indian Railways is a continuous and on-going process. Accordingly, Ministry of Railways has launched  Amrit  Bharat  Station  Scheme  for  redevelopment  of  stations which envisages development of stations with a long-term approach. It involves preparation of master plans and their implementation in phases to  improve  the  amenities  at  the  stations  like  improvement  of  station access, circulating areas, waiting halls, toilets, lift/escalators as necessary, platform surfacing and cover over platform, cleanliness, free Wi-Fi,  kiosks  for  local  products  through  schemes like 'One Station  One Product',  better  passenger  information  systems,  executive  lounges, nominated  spaces  for  business  meetings,  landscaping,  etc.  keeping  in view the necessity at each station.

The  scheme  also  envisages  improvement  of  building,  integrating  the station with both sides of the city, multimodal integration, amenities for Divyangjans, sustainable and environment friendly solutions, provision of ballastless  tracks,  etc.  as  per  necessity,  phasing  and  feasibility  and creation  of  city  centre  at  the  station  in  the  long  term.  So  far,  1337 stations have been identified for development under Amrit Bharat Station Scheme.

In  order  to  ensure  safety,  Indian  Railways  continuously  upgrades  and modernises  its  signalling  system  like  Electrical/Electronic  Interlocking Systems  with  centralized  operation  of  points  and  signals,  Complete Track  Circuiting  of  stations,  Interlocking  of  Level  Crossing  Gates  (LC) etc.  Indian  Railways  has  also  gone  for  implementation  of  advance technology  system  "Kavach"  as  an  Automatic  Train  Protection  (ATP) system which required safety certification of highest order.

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