Lok Sabha Question No. 3208 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2025-03-19
Subject: Rail Connectivity for Kaushambi
Ministry: RAILWAYS
Asked by: Shri Pushpendra Saroj

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA

## MINISTRY OF RAILWAYS

## LOK SABHA

## UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 3208 TO BE ANSWERED ON 19.03.2025

## RAIL CONNECTIVITY FOR KAUSHAMBI

3208. SHRI  PUSHPENDRA SAROJ:

Will the Minister of RAILWAYS be pleased to state:

- (a) whether there is a plan to upgrade or build a new railway station in Kaushambi to improve connectivity;
- (b) if so, the details of the fixed timeline and budget allocation;
- (c) whether the Government has been pushing for 100 per cent railway electrification and track modernization, if so, the details thereof and the details of percentage of railway lines on and around Kaushambi
- electrified; and
- (d) whether there is a plan to introduce new semi high speed trains on improve track conditions to reduce travel time to Delhi-Lucknow and Varanasi?

## ANSWER

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

(SHRI ASHWINI VAISHNAW)

- (a)  to  (d)  :  Railway  projects  are  surveyed/  sanctioned/executed  Zonal Railway  wise  and  not  State-wise/Union  Territory  -wise/District-wise  as the  Railways'  projects  may  span  across  State/Union  Territory/District boundaries. Railway projects are sanctioned on the basis of

remunerativeness,  traffic  projections,  last  mile  connectivity,  missing links  and  alternate  routes,  augmentation  of  congested/saturated  lines, demands raised by  State  Governments,  Central  Ministries, Members  of Parliament,  other  public  representatives,  Railway's  own  operational requirement, socio-economic considerations etc. depending upon throwforward of ongoing projects and overall availability of funds. Railway  infrastructure  projects  falling  fully/partly  in  the  State  of  Uttar Pradesh  are  covered  under  Northern  Railway,  North  Central  Railway, North Eastern Railway, East Central Railway and West Central Railway zones.  Zonal  Railway  wise  details  of  Railway  projects  including  cost, expenditure  and  outlay  are  made  available  in  public  domain  on  Indian Railway's. Bharwari, Sirathu and Manauri are the major railway stations in Kaushambi district. These stations are on the Delhi-Howrah via Prayagraj main line route. Recently, DFC also has been completed along this  route.  Moreover,  Prayagraj-Bamrauli  4 th line  with  Rail  Fly  Over  at subedarganj project (9 km) has been sanctioned and the work has been taken  up.    This  will  also  improve  mobility  of  train  traffic  through Kaushambi. Doubling of Phaphamau to Unchahar in Kaushambi has also been sanctioned at a cost of Rs 971 crore. As on 01.04.2024, 68 Projects (16 New Line, 03 Gauge Conversion and 49 Doubling)  of  a  total  length  5,874  km,  costing  Rs.  92,001  crore,  falling fully/partly  in  Uttar  Pradesh  are  at  various  stages  of  planning  and implementation, out of which 1313 Km length has been commissioned and an expenditure of Rs. 28,366 crore has been incurred upto March,

2024. The status of the work is summarized as:

| Plan Head   |   No. of projects |   Total Length (in Km) |   Length Commissioned (in Km) |   Expenditure upto March 2024 (₹in Cr) |
|-------------|-------------------|------------------------|-------------------------------|----------------------------------------|
| NL          |                16 |                   1740 |                           297 |                                   8672 |
| GC          |                 3 |                    261 |                             0 |                                     26 |
| DL          |                49 |                   3873 |                          1016 |                                  19668 |
| TOTAL       |                68 |                   5874 |                          1313 |                                  28366 |

Upgradation and improvement of track infrastructure is a continuous and ongoing  process  over  Indian  Railways.  The  following  measures  have been taken by Indian Railways to upgrade railway tracks:

- I. Modern  track  structure  consisting  of  60kg,  90  Ultimate  Tensile Strength (UTS) rails, Pre-stressed Concrete Sleeper (PSC) Normal/Wide  base  sleepers  with  elastic fastening, fan-shaped layout turnout on PSC sleepers, Steel Channel/H-beam Sleepers on girder  bridges  have  been  used  while  carrying  out  primary  track renewals.
- II. The  Thick  Web  Switches  and  Weldable  CMS  Crossing  have  been used in turnout renewal works.
- III. Supply of 130m/260m long rail panels has been increased to avoid welding of joints, thereby improving safety.
- IV. Adoption  of  better  welding  technology  for  rails  i.e.  Flash  Butt Welding.
- V. Adoption of mechanized system for track maintenance using high output plain tampers and points & crossing tampers for improved maintainability & reliability of track.
- VI. Deployment  of  state-of-the-art  modern  machines  including  Rail Grinding  machines  manufactured  in  India  on  Railway  network  to further improve asset reliability.
- VII. Mechanisation of track laying activity through use of track machines like PQRS, TRT, T-28 etc.
- VIII. Interlocking  of  Level  Crossing  (LC)  Gates  for  enhancing  safety  at LC gates.
- IX. Ultrasonic  Flaw  Detection  (USFD)  testing  of  rails  to  detect  flaws and timely removal of defective rails.
- X. Monitoring of track geometry  by  OMS  (Oscillation Monitoring System) and TRC (Track Recording Cars).

At present, about 98% of the total BG network of the Indian Railways has been  electrified.  Electrification  carried  out  during  2014-24  and  before 2014 is as under:

| Period                       | Route Kilometer   |
|------------------------------|-------------------|
| Before 2014 (about 60 years) | 21,801            |
| 2014-25 (upto Feb, 25)       | 45,922            |

Broad Gauge network in Kaushambi area has been 100% electrified.

At present, Delhi-Lucknow sector is served by 54 pairs of train services including 22425/26 Ayodhya Cantt-Anand Vihar (T) Vande Bharat Express. Similarly,  Delhi-Varanasi  sector  is  served  by  27  pairs  of  train services  including  22435/36  Varanasi-New  Delhi  Vande  Bharat  Express and  22415/16  Varanasi-New  Delhi  Vande  Bharat  Express.    Besides, introduction  of  new  train  services  is  an  on-going  process  on  Indian Railways subject to traffic justification, operational feasibility etc.

*****