(a) the details of the proposals for railway projects received from various State Governments still pending with the Railways, State and project-wise;
(b) the details and the present status of proposals which have been approved during the last three years, State and project-wise;
(c) the details of funds earmarked/allocated for implementation of approved projects, State and project-wise; and
(d) the time-frame set for the completion of these projects?
MINISTER OF RAILWAYS AND COMMERCE & INDUSTRY
(SHRI PIYUSH GOYAL)
(a) to (d): A Statement is laid on the Table of the House.
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STATEMENT REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO PARTS (a) TO (d) OF UNSTARRED QUESTION NO.1646 BY SHRI UNMESH BHAIYYASAHEB PATIL, SHRI DHAIRYASHEEL SAMBHAJIRAO MANE, SHRI HEMANT SRIRAM PATIL, DR. SHRIKANT EKNATH SHINDE AND DR. SUJAY RADHAKRISHNA VIKHE PATIL TO BE ANSWERED IN LOK SABHA ON 21.09.2020 REGARDING PENDING RAILWAY PROJECTS
(a): Proposals/suggestions/representations, both formal and informal regarding Railway projects are received from State Governments, Ministries of Central Government, elected representatives, organizations/rail users etc. by Railways at various levels including Railway Board, Zonal Railways, Division Office etc. As receipt of such proposals/suggestions is a continuous and dynamic process, centralized compendium of such requests is not maintained.
(b): Railway Projects are sanctioned Zonal Railway-wise and not State-wise, as Indian Railway’s network spans across various state boundaries. As on 01.04.2020, 513 Railway Projects (New Line, Gauge Conversion and Doubling works) of total length of 53,039 Km are in different stages of planning/sanction/execution, out of which, commissioning of 10,013 Km length has been achieved and expenditure of `1.86 lakh crore incurred upto March 2020. During the last three financial years i.e. 2017-18, 2018-19 and 2019-20, 141 projects of 10,499 Km length costing `1,38,729 crore have been included in the Budget.
(c): The project-wise details including cost, expenditure and outlay are 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) >Railways> Pink Book (year) >Railway-wise Works, Machinery & Rolling Stock Programme (RSP).
(d): Completion of 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 site due to climatic conditions, etc. and all these factors differ from project to project and affect the completion time of the project(s), due to which confirmed time frame for completion of projects cannot be ascertained.