(a) the progress report/current status of the Rishikesh-Karnaprayag and Tanakpur-Bageshwar railway lines in Uttarakhand;
(b) whether the construction work of the said railway lines has started;
(c) if so, the details thereof and the time by which the said work is likely to be completed;
(d) whether the demand to link Ramnagar-Chaukhutia railway line with Gairsain in Uttarakhand is being considered;
(e) if so, the details thereof; and
(f) if not, reasons therefor?
MINISTER OF RAILWAYS AND COMMERCE & INDUSTRY
(SHRI PIYUSH GOYAL)
(a) to (f) A Statement is laid on the Table of the House.
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STATEMENT REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO PARTS (a) TO (f) OF STARRED QUESTION NO. 48 BY SHRI AJAY BHATT TO BE ANSWERED IN LOK SABHA ON 05.02.2020 REGARDING RAILWAY LINES IN UTTARAKHAND
(a) to (c) Rishikesh-Karnaprayag new line project was sanctioned in budget 2010-11. Latest cost of the project is 16,216 crore, out of which, an expenditure of 1,361 crore has been incurred up to March, 2019. The current status of Rishikesh-Karnaprayag rail line project is given below;
Works of Final Location Survey, Land Acquisition, Forest Clearance, Geo Technical Investigation and Approach road for the entire project have been completed.
Works in 1st Block section between Virbhadra and Yognagri Rishikesh (5.7 km) has been taken up. One Road Under Bridge (RUB) and one Road Over Bridge (ROB) in Rishikesh have been completed. Construction of one important Rail Bridge over river Chandrabhaga near Rishikesh has been taken up.
In remaining sections, construction of an Important Rail Bridge No. 8 at Lachmoli and Bridge No. 9 at Srinagar over river Alaknanda has been taken up. Construction of three Road bridges at Srinagar, Gauchar and Kaleshwar over river Alaknanda have been taken up. Total 16 tunnels are to be constructed which have been divided in 10 packages. Also construction work at 6 Adits of 6 Tunnels have been taken up. Design and Project Management Consultant (PMC) contracts have been awarded
and design works have been taken up in all the packages. Action for awarding of contracts have been taken up.
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Tanakpur-Bageshwar railway line: Survey for Tanakpur-Bageshwar, 155km route was completed in 2010-11. Anticipated cost of the project at the price level of 2010-11 was 2,791 crore. As per survey report, project was found financially unviable, as such it could not be taken forward. Updating survey for this project has been sanctioned in 2018-19. Updating survey has been taken up.
The 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. All these factors vary from project to project & site to site and affect the completion time and cost of the project, which is finally worked out at the completion stage. As such no confirmed time line can be given for completion of these projects at this stage.
(d) to (f) Survey for Ramnagar-Chaukhutia-Gairsain, 212 km long new line has been sanctioned in 2015-16. Field survey has been completed. Preparation of survey report has been taken up.
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