Question : Gauge Conversion

(a) whether trains are still being operated on meter gauge railway lines in the country;

(b) if so, the details thereof;

(c) the reasons for non-conversion of meter gauge lines into broad gauge along with the details thereof;

(d) the details of the projects of Railways with regard to gauge conversion;

(e) the time by which these projects are likely to be completed;

(f) the routes where difficulties are being faced in gauge conversion; and

(g) the steps taken by Railways to overcome these difficulties?

MINISTER OF RAILWAYS AND COMMERCE & INDUSTRY


(SHRI PIYUSH GOYAL)


(a) & (b) Yes, Sir. At present, 30 pairs of trains are operating on the various Meter Gauge sections over Indian Railways.
(c) to (g) Presently, Indian Railways have taken up, 55 Gauge Conversion projects of 7,275 Km length and costing `56,135 crore, which are in different stages of execution/planning/sanction. Out of which, commissioning of 3,573 km length has been achieved and expenditure of `19,640 crore has been incurred up to March, 2019.
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. All these factors vary from project to project and site to site and affect the completion time and cost of the project, which is finally worked out at the completion stage.
In the overall interest of the nation and to ensure that projects are completed in time without cost overrun, extensive monitoring is done in Railways at various levels (field level, divisional level, zonal level and Board level) and regular meetings are held with the officials of State Government and concerned authorities to resolve the pending issues that are obstructing the progress of projects.
To ensure that projects are completed even before time, Railway has adopted the concept of incentives to the contractor in the form of bonus clause in contracts which will further enhance the pace of execution of projects.
For capacity enhancement projects, institutional financing has been done by arranging loan of `1.5 lakh crore, which has increased Railways’ capacity for committed fund provision for essential projects.
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