Question : New Railway Freight Corridor Projects

(a) whether the Government is considering to launch new railway freight corridor projects to free up some of the existing railway network for passenger trains;

(b) if so, the details of railway projects under consideration along with the ongoing projects in the country including Tamil Nadu, zone-wise and if not, the reasons therefor;

(c) the State-wise status of the projects announced during the last three years and the number of projects completed so far, State/UT/zone-wise;

(d) the quantum of funds estimated to be spent thereon, State/UT-wise; and

(e) the details of the operation of new trains announced during the last three years in the country, particularly in Tamil Nadu?

MINISTER OF RAILWAYS AND COMMERCE & INDUSTRY

(SHRI PIYUSH GOYAL)

(a): Government has sanctioned two Dedicated Freight Corridors (DFC) namely Eastern Dedicated Freight Corridor (EDFC) (1856 kms) between Ludhiana in Punjab and Dankuni in West Bengal and Western Dedicated Freight Corridor (WDFC) (1504 kms) between Jawaharlal Nehru Port, New Mumbai and Dadri in Uttar Pradesh near Delhi.

b) to (d): As on 01.04.2019, there are 491 ongoing Railway projects including 189 New Lines, 55 Gauge Conversion and 247 Doubling Projects, which are in different stages of execution/planning/sanction. The total length of these projects is 48860.64 km costing `6.476 Lakh Crore on which Commissioning of 9113 km length and expenditure of `1.43 Lakh Crore has been done up to March 2019.
Aforesaid ongoing Railway projects include 22 Projects in Tamil Nadu including 09 New Lines, 05 Gauge Conversion and 08 Doubling projects. Total cost of the projects is `21,829 crores, out of which `4,281 crores spent upto March, 2019 with commissioning of 729 Km length.
The projects are not sanctioned State-wise, area-wise and region-wise. Since new lines generally straddle over more than one State, details of ongoing projects are maintained Zone-wise. Total 154 Railway projects have been included in Budget during last three years i.e. 2016-17, 2017-18 and 2018-19. Details of all ongoing works, allotment of funds and expenditure on each project 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 2019-20.

(e): During the last 3 years, 599 trains services have been introduced in the country, out of which, 32 train services are introduced serving various stations located in the State of Tamil Nadu on originating/terminating basis.
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