New Delhi : As on 01.04.2021, 484 Railway projects of 51,165 Km length, costing approx. `7.53 lakh crore are in different stages of planning/sanction/execution, out of which 10,638 Km length has been commissioned and an expenditure of approx. `2.14 lakh crore has been incurred upto March, 2021. These include:-
- 187 New line projects of 21,037 Km length, costing `4,05,916 crore, out of which commissioning of 2,621 Km length has been achieved and expenditure of `1,05,591 crore has been incurred upto March, 2021.
- 46 Gauge Conversion projects of 6,213 Km length, costing `53,171 crore, out of which commissioning of 3,587 Km length has been achieved and expenditure of `22,184 crore has been incurred upto March, 2021.
- 251 Doubling projects of 23,915 Km length, costing `2,93,471 crore, out of which commissioning of 4,430 Km length has been achieved and expenditure of `86,041 crore has been incurred upto March, 2021.
The completion of any Railway project(s) depends on various factors like quick land acquisition by State Government, forest clearance by officials of forest department, deposition of cost share by State Government in cost sharing projects, priority of projects, shifting of infringing utilities, statutory clearances from various authorities, geological and topographical conditions of area, law and order situation in the area of project(s) site, number of working months in a year for particular project site due to climatic conditions etc. and all these factors affect the completion time and cost of the project(s), which is finally worked out at the completion stage. However, Railways is making all the efforts for expeditious completion of projects.
Various steps being taken by the Government for effective and speedy implementation of rail projects include (i) prioritisation of projects (ii) substantial increase in allocation of funds on priority projects (iii) delegation of powers at field level (iv) close monitoring of progress of project at various levels, and (v) regular follow up with State Governments and concerned authorities for expeditious land acquisition, forestry and Wildlife clearances and for resolving other issues pertaining to projects.
Since 2014, there has been substantial increase in Budget allocation and commensurate commissioning of projects. The Average Annual Budget allocation in the Indian Railways for New Line, Gauge Conversion and Doubling works during 2014-19 has increased to `26,026 crore per year from `11,527 crore per year during 2009-14, which is 126% more than average annual budget outlay of 2009-14. The Annual budget allocation for these Projects for Financial Year 2019-20 was `39,836 crore (246% more than average annual budget allocation during 2009-14) and `43,626 crore in Financial Year 2020-21 (278% more than the Average Annual Budget allocation during 2009-14). For Financial year 2021-22, highest-ever budget outlay of `52,398 crore has been provided for these works, which is 355% more than average annual budget outlay of 2009-14.
During 2014-21, 17,720 km length (3,681 km New Line, 4,871 km Gauge Conversion and 9,168 km Doubling) has been commissioned at an average of 2,531 km/year which is 67% more than the average commissioning during 2009-14 (1520 km/year).
This information was given by the Minister of Railways, Communications and Electronic & Information Technology, Ashwini Vaishnaw in a written reply to a question in Rajya Sabha today.
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