LOK SABHA
DOUBLING / ELECTRIFICATION OF RAILWAY TRACKS
2972. SHRI RANJEETSINGH HINDURAO NAIK NIMBALKAR
SHRI SUNIL KUMAR SONI
SHRI VIJAY BAGHEL
SHRI SUDHAKAR TUKARAM SHRANGARE
SHRI DEVJI M. PATEL
Will the Minister of RAILWAYS be pleased to state:
(a) the status of the ongoing projects for doubling and electrification of railway tracks under Central Railways and South Central Railways in Maharashtra, North Western Railways in Rajasthan and South East Central Railways (SECR) in Chhattisgarh, division-wise especially of Solapur and Nanded divisions;
(b) the projects sanctioned for doubling and electrification of railway tracks in Maharashtra especially in Pune, Solapur and Nanded divisions of Central Railways, South East Central Railways in Chhattisgarh and Jodhpur division of North Western Railways in Rajasthan during the last three years;
(c) the reasons for the delay in the above projects and the time by which the said projects are likely to be completed; and
(d) the steps taken by the Railways to complete these projects at the earliest?
(SHRI ASHWINI VAISHNAW)
(a) to (d): A Statement is laid on the Table of the House.
STATEMENT REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO PARTS (a) TO (d) OF UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 2972 BY SHRI RANJEETSINGH HINDURAO NAIK NIMBALKAR, SHRI SUNIL KUMAR SONI, SHRI VIJAY BAGHEL, SHRI SUDHAKAR TUKARAM SHRANGARE AND SHRI DEVJI M. PATEL TO BE ANSWERED IN LOK SABHA ON 03.08.2022 REGARDING DOUBLING/ ELECTRIFICATION OF RAILWAY TRACKS
(a) to (d): Railway projects are sanctioned Zonal Railway-wise and not State-wise or division-wise, as Indian Railways’ projects may span across State boundaries. However, as on 01.04.2022, 16 Doubling projects including the projects under Central Railway and South Central Railway costing ₹ 34,658 crore for 3,521 km length falling fully/ partly in the State of Maharashtra including Nanded and Solapur divisions are under different stages of planning/ approval/ execution, out of which 782 km length has been commissioned and an expenditure of ₹ 13,809 crore incurred upto March, 2022.
Similarly, as on 01.04.2022, 12 Doubling projects including the projects under North Western Railway costing ₹ 29,639 crore for 2,522 km length falling fully/ partly in the State of Rajasthan are under different stages of planning/ approval/ execution, out of which 434 km length has been commissioned and an expenditure of ₹ 4,860 crore incurred upto March, 2022.
Further, as on 01.04.2022, 08 Doubling projects (including the projects under South East Central Railway) costing ₹ 14,087 crore for 1,340 km length falling fully/ partly in the State of Chhattisgarh are under different stages of planning/ approval/ execution, out of which 491 km length has been commissioned and an expenditure of ₹ 6,853 crore incurred upto March, 2022.
Details of projects including their cost, expenditure and outlay of Central Railway (CR) and South Central Railway (SCR) (falling fully/ partly in Maharashtra), South East Central Railway (SECR) (falling fully/ partly in
Chhattisgarh) and North Western Railway (NWR) (falling fully/ partly in Rajasthan) Zones of Indian Railways are made available in public domain on Indian Railways website i.e. www.indianrailways.gov.in >Ministry of Railways >Railway Board >About Indian Railways >Railway Board Directorates >Finance (Budget) >Rail Budget/Pink Book (Year)> Railway wise Works Machinery and Rolling Stock Programme.
The completion of any Railway project/s depends on various factors like quick land acquisition by State Government, forest clearance by officials of forest department, shifting of infringing utilities, statutory clearances from various authorities, geological and topographical conditions of area, law and order situation in the area of project site, number of working months in a year for particular project/s site etc. All these factors affect the completion time of the project/s. With above constraints, Railway is making all efforts for expeditious execution of projects.
Various steps being taken by the Railways for effective and speedy implementation of rail projects include (i) setting up of Gati Shakti Directorate in Ministry of Railways and Gati Shakti Units in Divisions (ii) prioritization of projects (iii) substantial increase in allocation of funds on priority projects (iv) delegation of powers at field level (v) close monitoring of progress of projects at various levels, and (vi) regular follow up with State Governments and concerned authorities for expeditious land acquisition, forestry and Wildlife clearances and for resolving other issues pertaining to projects.
RAILWAY ELECTRIFICATION: Railway Electrification projects are not confined to State/ Union Territories (UT). However, under Central Railway and South Central Railway, 6 Railway Electrification projects of 1,893 km route length costing ₹ 2,085 crore falling fully/partly in the State of Maharashtra have been taken up. Under North Western Railway, 12 Railway Electrification projects of 3,072 km route length costing ₹ 3,058 crore falling fully/partly in the State of Rajasthan have been taken up. Presently, no project has been taken up in South East Central Railway falling fully/partly in the State of Chhattisgarh.
As all the balance Broad Gauge routes have been sanctioned for electrification in 2018-19, hence, no electrification projects have been sanctioned during last three years in Pune, Solapur and Nanded divisions of Central Railway, Jodhpur division of North Western Railway and South East Central Railway in Chhattisgarh. Further, provision of electrification are being made while sanctioning New line, Doubling and Gauge conversion works as per due process of Indian Railways.
The completion of Electrification projects depends upon various factors like clearances from the concerned Departments of State Governments/Central Ministries, completion of Transmission Line works by State Power Utilities and resolution of law & order issues during execution, which are beyond the control of Ministry of Railways. Therefore, it is not feasible to fix time lines for completion of the projects.
To complete the projects in time, various steps have been taken by Indian Railways which include among others; creation of ‘Gati Shakti Directorate’ in Railway Board for smooth and speedy approval of projects at Railway Board’s level, and ensuring effective project monitoring mechanism. In addition, large size projects are being executed in Engineering Procurement and Construction (EPC) contract mode, assured funding is being assured through ‘Extra Budgetary Resource’ (Institutional Finance) and decentralization of financial powers to field units to expedite the project execution and completion.