Question : Udaipur-Ahmedabad Gauge Conversion

(a) the budget allocated for metre gauge to broad gauge conversion of Udaipur-Ahmedabad Section along with the amount so far spent out of this budget;

(b) the time by which the said conversion is likely to be completed;

(c) the total length of metre gauge to be converted into broad gauge along with the length of tract converted into broad gauge;

(d) the number of tunnels in the way of said gauge conversion along with the time by which the work of these tunnels are likely to be completed; and

(e) the number of railway stations upgraded in the said gauge conversion along with the details of the facilities likely to be made available?

MINISTER OF RAILWAYS AND COMMERCE & INDUSTRY

(SHRI PIYUSH GOYAL)

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


STATEMENT REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO PARTS (a) TO (e) OF UNSTARRED QUESTION NO.1544 BY SHRI ARJUN LAL MEENA TO BE ANSWERED IN LOK SABHA ON 27.11.2019 REGARDING UDAIPUR-AHMEDABAD GAUGE CONVERSION

(a) to (d): Ahmedabad-Himmatnagar-Udaipur gauge conversion including Modasa-Shamlaji Road new line project (317.73 Km) was sanctioned in 2008-09 and the latest cost of the project is ` 1667 crore and expenditure of ` 1234 crore has been incurred upto March, 2019. An outlay of ` 532.38 crore has been provided for the complete project during 2019-20.

Due to limited availability of funds in the earlier years, there has been little progress on this project. However, since 2014-15, the Budget allotment for this project has improved and the project execution work has been expedited.

Gauge conversion work of Ahmedabad-Himmatnagar (87.25 Km) section has been completed upto March, 2019 and work has been taken up in balance Himmatnagar-Udaipur section and project is progressing well. Also, sufficient funds have been made available during 2019-20 to the project for early completion.

During financial year 2019-20, 24 Km long section from Himmatnagar-Raighadh Road has already been completed and 24.26 Km long section from Udaipur-Kharwachanda is also planned for completion during the same year.

On this project, challenging work of 01 long tunnel of around 850 metre and 2 short tunnels of around 150 metre and 100 metre length are to be constructed, for which, agencies have been finalized and construction work taken up.


The timely completion of any Railway project depends on various factors like quick land acquisition by State Government, forest clearance by officials of forest departments, 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 projects site due to climatic considerations, 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, presently confirmed timeline for completion of the project cannot be given.

(e): Total 16 Nos. of metre gauge stations have been converted into broad gauge stations in Ahmedabad-Himmatnagar section. Out of these, 02 D class stations i.e. Rakhiyal and Prantij have been upgraded from D class to B class. In Udaipur-Himmatnagar section, 20 railway stations (12 crossing and 08 halt) are being upgraded.

All essential amenities depending upon category of Stations viz; platform shelter, Foot Over Bridge at crossing stations, boundary walls, water booth, waiting halls, sitting benches, toilets, high level platforms have been planned/provided including desirable facilities for divyangjan like ramps, water booths and toilets, etc.

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