Lok Sabha Question No. 4016 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2015-12-23
Subject: Gauge Conversion
Ministry: RAILWAYS
Asked by: DEVUSINH JESINGBHAI CHAUHAN, RAJESHBHAI NARANBHAI CHUDASAMA, VINOD CHAVDA, JAYSHREEBEN  PATEL, DIPSINH SHANKARSINH RATHOD

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF RAILWAYS

## LOK  SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 4016 TO BE ANSWERED ON 23.12.2015

## GAUGE CONVERSION

4016.    SHRI DEVUSINH CHAUHAN: SHRI RAJESHBAI CHUDASAMA: SHRI VINOD LAKHAMASHI CHAVDA: SHRIMATI JAYSHREEBEN PATEL: SHRI D.S. RATHOD:

Will the Minister of RAILWAYS be pleased to state:

- (a)  whether  the  railways  has  received  representations  from  various organisations/road users as well as from Government of Gujarat for gauge conversion, new railway lines and doubling of railway lines;
- (b)  if so, the details thereof; and
- (c)  the time by which the work is likely to start along with the probable time-frame for each project?

## ANSWER MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF RAILWAYS

(SHRI MANOJ SINHA)

- (a) to (c): A Statement is laid on the Table of the House.

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STATEMENT  REFERRED  TO  IN  REPLY  TO  PARTS  (a)  TO  (c)  OF UNSTARRED  QUESTION  NO.  4016  BY  SHRI  DEVUSINH  CHAUHAN, SHRI  RAJESHBAI  CHUDASAMA,  SHRI  VINOD  LAKHAMASHI  CHAVDA, SHRIMATI  JAYSHREEBEN  PATEL  AND  SHRI  D.S.  RATHOD  TO  BE ANSWERED  IN LOK SABHA ON 23.12.2015  REGARDING  GAUGE CONVERSION

(a) to (c): Requests for new lines, gauge conversion and doubling, both formal as well as informal, are received by Railways at various levels i.e. Railway Board, Zonal Railways and Divisional Headquarters, etc. As receipt  of  such  requests/suggestions  is  a  continuous  and  dynamic process, centralized compendium of such requests is not maintained. However, in recent past Government of Gujarat has suggested certain works, the details of which are appended.

Two new lines, eight gauge conversion & nine doubling  projects covering a length of 363 km., 1467 km & 984 km and costing ` 3766 crore, ` 6510 crore & ` 6477 crore respectively falling fully/partly in the State of Gujarat have been sanctioned which will help in development of  ports  and  industries.  On  these  projects,  an  expenditure  of ` 3688 crore  has  been  incurred  upto  March,  2015,  with  an  outlay  of ` 3078 crore for the year 2015-16.

Completion of these projects is dependent upon many factor such as  land  acquisition,  statutory  clearances  like  forestry  and  wild  life clearances, shifting of services, cutting of trees, construction of road over  bridges  and  road  under  bridges  by  road  maintaining  agencies, apart from availability of adequate funds. Since many of these factors are beyond the control of Ministry of Railways, timelines for completion of all the projects are not feasible to be fixed.

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APPENDIX REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO PARTS (a) TO (c) OF LOK SABHA UNSTARRED  QUESTON  NO.  4016  BY  SHRI  DEVUSINH  CHAUHAN,    SHRI RAJESHBAI CHUDASAMA, SHRI VINOD LAKHAMASHI CHAVDA,  SHRIMATI JAYSHREEBEN  PATEL  AND  SHRI  D.S.  RATHOD  TO  BE  ANSWERED  ON 23.12.2015 REGARDING GAUGE CONVERSION

Details and status of works suggested by Government of Gujarat in the recent past are as under:

|   S.No. | Subject                                                                                            | Status                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  |
|---------|----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
|       1 | Provision of adequate funds for new line between Somnath to Kodinar for development of Chhara Port | Somnath to Kodinar new line has been added to Rajkot - Veraval gauge conversion project as material modification. The main project of gauge conversion has already been completed. An outlay of ` 50 crore has been provided for this project for the year 2015- 16. This allotment is sufficient in present stage of land acquisition for the project. |
|       2 | New Railway line Bhavnagar-Adhelai- Dholera-Vataman- Petland (Survey proposed)                     | Bhavnagar-Adhelai-Dholera-Vataman- Petland: Survey for Bhavnagar to Tarapur New Line via Dholera, has been completed. Cost of this line has been assessed as ` 745 crores with RoR of (-) 1% and Planning Commission has not agreed to the proposal.                                                                                                    |
|       3 | Dholera-Bhimnath (Survey proposed)                                                                 | Survey for Dholera-Bhimnath new line has been completed. Cost of 27 Km Line has been assessed as ` 252 crore with RoR of 3.2%. Survey report has been sent to DMIC for coming forward with any of the four Participative Models.                                                                                                                        |
|       4 | Khambhat to Khambhat Port (Survey proposed)                                                        | Khambhat to Khambhat Port: Survey for this 20 Km line was sanctioned in 2013-14 but Gujarat Maritime Board has informed that Khambhat port will not be developed due to the construction of Kalpsar Dam at location of Khambhat Port.                                                                                                                   |

|    | Gauge Conversion                                                         |                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     |
|----|--------------------------------------------------------------------------|---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| 1. | Gauge conversion of existing MG/NG rail line Ahmedabad-Botad- Bhavnagar. | Botad-Bhavnagar is already a broad gauge section. Gauge conversion of Ahmedabad- Botad has been taken up at an anticipated cost of ` 567 crores. An expenditure of ` 42.00 crore has been incurred upto 31.03.2015. An outlay of ` 120 crore has been provided for this project for the year 2015-16. Final Location Survey has been completed. Tenders for earthwork, bridges works, track linking, etc. have been |
|    | Doubling                                                                 |                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     |
| 1  | Bhruch-Samni- Dahej                                                      | Gauge conversion of this section has been completed and commissioned. At present, there is no proposal for doubling of this section.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                |
| 2  | Surendranagar- Botad-Dhasa- Rajula-Pipavav                               | Survey for this project has not been sanctioned.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    |
| 3. | Surendranagar- Viramgam-Mehsana                                          | (a) Doubling of Viramgam-Surendrangar (65 Km) section has been completed and commissioned in 2015. (b) Viramgam- Mahesana: No survey for doubling of this section has been taken up.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                |
| 4. | Palanpur-Bhildi- Samkhiali- Gandhidham- Mundra (Survey completed)        | Palanpur-Bhildi-Samakhiali-Gandhidham- Mundra: On this route, (a) Doubling of Palanpur- Bhildi- Samakhyali has been taken up at an anticipated cost of ` 1267 crore being funded by Kutch Railway Company Ltd. An outlay of ` 1.00 crore has been provided for the year 2015-16. Detailed estimate has been prepared and tendering taken up.                                                                        |

|    |                                                                        | (b) Samakhayali- Gandhidham-Adipur is already an existing double broad gauge line section. (c) No survey for doubling of Adipur- Mundra has been sanctioned.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    |
|----|------------------------------------------------------------------------|-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
|  5 | Viramgam- Samakhaili- Gandhidham (proposed to be taken up in 2011- 12) | Viramgam-Samakhaili-Gandhidham: Doubling of Viramgam-Samakhiali (182 km) has been taken up at an anticipated cost ` 685 crores. An expenditure of ` 257 crores has been incurred upto March, 2015, with an outlay of ` 600 crore for the year 2015-16. Viramgam- Sadla section (21 km) has been completed & commissioned. Track linking in Jatpipli- Vasadva (12 km) & Chuli-Sukhpur (10 km) sections have also been completed. Works in balance section have been taken up. Samakhayali-Gandhidham is already an existing double line section. |
|  6 | Ahmedabad- Mehsana-Jaipur                                              | (a) The work of Gauge conversion of Ahmedabad-Mehsana (70 km) metre gauge (MG) line running parallel to existing broad gauge (BG) line has been included in the Budget 2015-16 at an anticipated cost of ` 420 crore subject to requisite clearances from Government. (b) Survey for Doubling of Mehsana- Palanpur (65 Km) section has been taken up. (c) Doubling of Palanpur-Ajmer has been sanctioned in different patches and works have been taken up. (d) Ajmer-Jaipur is already a double line section.                                  |

..…4/-

|   7 | Rajkot-Veraval   | Rajkot-Veraval doubling surveys (in 2 parts) have been taken up.                                                                                                                                                                                                                     |
|-----|------------------|--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
|   8 | Rajkot-Okha      | Survey has been taken up.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            |
|   9 | Rajkot-Viramgam  | (a) Doubling of Surendranagar-Rajkot (116 km) has been included in the Budget 2015-16 at an anticipated cost of ` 1315 crore subject to requisite clearances from the Government. (b) Doubling of Viramgam-Surendrangar (65 Km) section has been completed and commissioned in 2015. |

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