Lok Sabha Question No. 331 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2024-07-24
Subject: Construction of New Railway Track in the Country
Ministry: RAILWAYS
Asked by: Ms Iqra Choudhary

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF RAILWAYS

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 331 TO BE ANSWERED ON 24.07.2024

## CONSTRUCTION OF NEW RAILWAY TRACK IN THE COUNTRY

† 331. MS IQRA CHOUDHARY:

Will the Minister of RAILWAYS be pleased to state:

- (a) the  details  of  the  extant  policy  of  the  Government  regarding construction  of  new  railway  tracks  to  provide  rail  connectivity across the country;
- (b) the total number of such railway tracks for which survey has been conducted in the past but no action or works have been initiated so far;
- (c) the  total  number  of  survey  conducted  on  the  Panipat-Meerut  rail route; and
- (d) the measures being taken by the Government for initiating works on the said rail route?

## 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 UNSTARRED  QUESTION  NO.  331  BY  MS  IQRA  CHOUDHARY  TO  BE ANSWERED IN LOK SABHA ON 24.07.2024 REGARDING CONSTRUCTION OF NEW RAILWAY TRACK IN THE COUNTRY

(a) & (b): The Railway projects are surveyed/sanctioned/executed Zonal  Railway  wise  and  not  State  wise/district-wise  as  the  Railways' projects  may  span  across  state  boundaries.  Furthermore,    Railway Infrastructure Projects are taken up on the basis of remunerativeness, 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.

During the last 3 years i.e. FY 2021-22, 2022-23, 2023-24 and current FY 2024-25,  386  surveys  (New  Line,  Gauge  Conversion  and  Doubling)  of total  length  24,381  km  have  been  completed.  Further  action  has  been taken up based on the outcome of Survey report.

As  on  01.04.2024,  across  Indian  Railway,  488  Railway  Infrastructure projects  (New  Line,  Gauge  Conversion  and  Doubling)  of  44,488  Km length, costing approx. 7.44 lakh crore are in planning/approval/construction stage, out of which 12,045 Km length has been commissioned and an expenditure of approx. 2.92 lakh crore has been incurred upto March, 2024. These include:-

- (i) 187  New  line  projects  of  total  length  20,199  Km,  costing  approx. 4.16 lakh crore are in planning/approval/construction stage, out of which 2,855 Km length has been commissioned and an expenditure of approx.  1.6 lakh crore has been incurred upto March, 2024.

- (ii) 40  Gauge  Conversion  projects  of  total  length  4,719  Km,  costing 45,242  crore  are  in  planning/approval/construction  stage,  out  of which 2,972 Km length has been commissioned and an expenditure of  18,706 crore has been incurred upto March, 2024.
- (iii) 261  Doubling  projects  of  total  length  19,570  Km,  costing  approx. 2.83 lakh crore are in planning/approval/construction stage, out of which 6,218 Km length has been commissioned and an expenditure of approx.  1.13 lakh crore has been incurred upto March, 2024.

Zone-wise/year-wise  details  of  all Railway  Projects  including  cost, expenditure and outlay are  made available  in  public  domain  on  Indian Railways website.

The Average Annual Budget allocation for New Line, Gauge Conversion and Doubling Projects across Indian Railways is given below:

| Period   | Average Outlay    | Increase w.r.t. average allocation of 2009-14   |
|----------|-------------------|-------------------------------------------------|
| 2009-14  | 11,527 crore/year | -                                               |
| 2014-24  | 40,289 crore/year | Nearly 3.5 times                                |
| 2023-24  | 67,199 crore      | Nearly 6 times                                  |

The  details  of  commissioning  of  New  Line,  Gauge  Conversion  and Doubling across Indian Railways is given below:-

| Period   | Total Length Commissioned   | Average Length Commissioned   | Increase w.r.t. average commissioning during 2009-14   |
|----------|-----------------------------|-------------------------------|--------------------------------------------------------|
| 2009-14  | 7,599 km                    | 4.2 km/day                    | -                                                      |
| 2023-24  | 5,309 km                    | 14.54 km/day                  | About 3.5 times                                        |

(c)  &  (d):  The  survey  of  Meerut-Panipat  New  line  (104  Km)  has  been sanctioned for preparing Detailed Project Report. However, Panipat and Meerut are well connected  with existing rail network via DelhiGhaziabad.

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