(a) the details of ongoing railway projects in Kerala;
(b) the present status of doubling of Kayamkulam-Ernakulam coastal railway line;
(c) the time by which the doubling work is likely to be completed;
(d) the amount allocated for this work by the Railways during the last three years;
(e) whether any State has come with an agreement of 50 per cent share in land acquisition; and
(f) if not, the reasons why the Railways is pushing this demand to the State of Kerala?
MINISTER OF RAILWAYS AND COMMERCE & INDUSTRY
(SHRI PIYUSH GOYAL)
(a) to (f): A Statement is laid on the Table of the House.
*****
STATEMENT REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO PARTS (a) TO (f) OF UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 3753 BY ADV. A.M. ARIFF TO BE ANSWERED IN LOK SABHA ON 11.12.2019 REGARDING RAILWAY PROJECTS IN KERALA
(a) to (d): Presently, 09 projects (02 new line and 07 doubling) covering a length of 454 Km, costing 8,317 crore, falling fully/partly in Kerala, are under different stages of planning/approval/execution. Details of these projects are as under:
02 New Line Projects are covering a length of 146 km costing 3,293 crore. An expenditure of 299 crore has been incurred upto March, 2019.
07 Doubling Projects are covering a length of 307 km costing 5,024 crore, out of which, 8 Km length has been commissioned and an expenditure of 671 crore has been incurred upto March, 2019. An outlay of 265 crore has been provided for these projects for the year 2019-20.
The project-wise details of projects including expenditure and outlay 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)>Railway-wise Works Machinery & Rolling Stock Programme Regular Budget (year).
Average Budget Allocation for Infrastructure projects & safety works, falling fully/partly in State of Kerala, for 2014-19 is 950 crore, which is 255% of the average annual Budget outlay of 2009-14
( 372 crore).
During 2014-19, 89 km length has been commissioned which is 168% of commissioning achieved during 2009-14 (53 Km).
Route-wise status of doubling on Ernakulam-Kayankulam line is as under:-
I. Doubling via Kottayam route
On this route ( Route length 114.6 Km), doubling from Ernakulam-Kuruppantara (41.37 Km), Chengannur-Changanaseri (16.5 Km) & Chengannur-Kayankulam (20.19 Km) totalling 78.06 Km has been commissioned. Work on balance portion taken up.
II. Doubling via Alappuzha route
On this route (Route length 100.33 Km), doubling of Haripad-Kayankulam (13.04 Km) has been commissioned. Work on Ambalapuzha-Haripad doubling (18.13 Km) has been taken up.
In view of considerable increase in project cost due to abnormal rise in cost of land for Ernakulam-Kumbalam (7.71 Km) and Kumbalam-Turavur (15.59 Km) and Turavur-Ambalapuzha (45.86 Km) doubling projects, Government of Kerala has been requested for their consent to share 50% cost of Ernakulam-Kumbalam doubling and Kumbalam-Turavur doubling and provide land free of cost and share 50% of construction cost for Turavur-Ambalapuzha doubling projects which, however, has not been agreed by the State Government.
The timely completion of any Railway project depends on various factors like quick land acquisition by State Government, forest clearance by officials of forest department, shifting of infringing utilities (both underground and over ground), 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 site due to climatic conditions, encountering unforeseen conditions like earthquake, flooding, excessive rains, strikes of labour, orders of Hon’ble Courts, situation and conditions of working agencies/contractors etc. and all these factors affect the completion of the project. Therefore, confirmed timeline for completion of these projects cannot be given.
(e): Yes, Sir. A number of State Governments have given their consent for sharing 50% cost of the projects and also 100% land free along with 50% cost of construction.
(f): Does not arise.
*****