Question : REPAIR OF RAILWAY BRIDGES

(a) whether the Railways conduct regular inspection of railway bridges to assess their physical condition worthy of running trains safely and if so, the details thereof including the number of bridges found to be in dilapidated condition;

(b) the details of the dilapidated bridges sanctioned for re-building, rehabilitation, strengthening and repairs during each of the last three years and the current year, zone-wise;

(c) the funds allocated for the purpose during the said period, zone-wise;

(d) whether the Railways proposes to carry out repair of all the bridges found to be in dilapidated condition to prevent the possibility of accident and if so, the details thereof; and

(e) the corrective action taken by the Railways to ensure safety and security of the bridges?

MINISTER OF RAILWAYS (SHRI D. V. SADANANDA GOWDA)

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

STATEMENT REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO PARTS (a) TO (e) OF STARRED QUESTION NO. 149 BY SHRI SUVENDU ADHIKARI TO BE ANSWERED IN LOK SABHA ON 17.07.2014 REGARDING REPAIR OF RAILWAY BRIDGES

(a) to (e): Yes, Madam. A regular and rigorous system of inspection of railway bridges is followed on Indian Railways under which all the railway bridges are thoroughly inspected every year. Repair/strengthening/rehabilitation/ rebuilding of railway bridges is continuous process and is undertaken whenever so warranted by their physical condition as ascertained during these inspections. If the corrective/remedial measures are expected to take a long duration due to the complexity of the site situation, etc. suitable safety measures like imposing speed restriction and keeping such bridge under close watch are taken till the bridge is repaired/strengthened/rehabilitated/rebuilt. The details in respect of the bridges sanctioned for strengthening /rehabilitation/ rebuilding since 01.04.2011, zone wise and year wise are as under:

 Railway	2011-12	2012-13	2013-14	Bridges Funds	Bridges Funds	Bridges	Funds	sanction allocat-	sanction allocat	sanction	allocat	-ed during ed during	-ed during - ed during	-ed during	- ed during	the year the year	the year the year	the year	the year (Rs. in (Rs. in	(Rs. in crores) crores)	crores) Central	3 12.8	19 10.92	20	9.09 Eastern	12 73.17	68 81.42	33	71.18 East Central	30 71.57	24 43.38	0	61.59 East Coast	94 9.13	47 14.64	8	16.87 Northern	65 11.08	30 17.19	38	34.55 North Central	15 16.62	8 12.22	22	19.65 North Eastern 1 3.83	2 9.49	0	17.13 Northeast	187 11.3 83 18.48	2	11.16 Frontier North Western	86 7.39	3 11.03	27	6.70 Southern	38 9.18	39 17.22	21	25.14 South Central	18 31.14	113 16.98	30	18.39 South Eastern	115 11.32	13 21.81	57	17.47 South East	34 12.01	13 7.95	29	7.24 Central South Western	7 13.34	41 13.25	1	13.36 Western	59 15.84	30 19.99	0	27.68 West Central	75 26.72	58 23.7	29	25.51 Total	839 336.45	591 339.66	317	382.69