36 railway projects worth Rs 30,789 crores underway in Gujarat

New Delhi: A total of 36 railway infrastructure projects, covering a total length of 3,200 km at a cost of ₹30,789 crores, fall fully or partly within the State of Gujarat. These include 26 projects sanctioned since 2018. This data was provided by the Minister of Railways, Communications, and Electronics & Information Technology, Ashwini Vaishnaw, in Rajya Sabha in reply to a question during the ongoing Monsoon session of Parliament.

The government reply stated, As on 01.04.2023, 36 Railway infrastructure projects (6 New Line, 18 Gauge Conversion and 12 Doubling), covering total length of 3,200 Km at a cost of ₹30,789 crores falling fully/partly in the State of Gujarat, including new railway projects sanctioned since 2018, are in planning/ approval/ construction stage, out of which 735 Km length has been commissioned and an expenditure of ₹6,113 crores incurred upto March, 2023.

These include

(i) 6 New Line projects covering total length of 520 km at a cost of ₹6,950 crores, out of which 90 km length has been commissioned and an expenditure of ₹2,227 crore has been incurred upto March, 2023.

(ii) 18 Gauge Conversion projects covering total length of 1567 km at a cost of ₹12,336 crores, out of which 645 km length has been commissioned and an expenditure of ₹3,527 crores has been incurred upto March, 2023.

(iii) 12 Doubling projects covering total length of 1,113 km at a cost of ₹11,502 crores, out of which an expenditure of ₹360 crores has been incurred upto March, 2023.

Since Financial Year 2018-19 to 2022-23 and 2023-24 (current financial year) Surveys for 36 (new line, doubling and gauge conversion) projects covering total length of 1,857 Km, falling fully/partly in the State of Gujarat have been completed. In the said period, 26 projects covering total length of 1,031 Km costing ₹13,184 crore falling fully/partly in the State of Gujarat have been sanctioned, which includes 3 new line, 10 doubling and 13 gauge conversion projects. Details of above projects is appended.

Railway infrastructure projects falling fully/partly in the State of Gujarat are covered in Western Railway and North Western Railway Zones of Indian Railways. Zone-wise and Year-wise details of railway projects including their cost, source of funds, expenditure and outlay are made 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) > Rail Budget/Pink Book (Year) > Railway-wise Works, Machinery and Rolling Stock Programme.

Since 2014, there has been substantial increase in fund allocation and commensurate commissioning of projects across Indian Railways .Average Annual Budget allocation for Infrastructure Projects and safety works, falling fully/ partly in the State of Gujarat, during 2014-19 has been enhanced to ₹3,327 crore per year from ₹589 crore per year during 2009-14, which is 465% more than average annual Budget allocation during 2009-14. Annual budget allocations on these projects have been increased to ₹4,803 crore in Financial Year 2019-20 (716% more than average annual Budget allocation of 2009-14), ₹4,071 crore in Financial Year 2020-21 (591% more than the average annual Budget allocation of 2009-14), ₹4,924 crore in Financial Year 2021-22 (736% more than the average annual Budget allocation of 2009-14) and ₹4,745 crore in Financial Year 2022-23 (706% more than the average annual Budget allocation of 2009-14). For Financial Year 2023-24, the highest ever budget allocation of ₹8,332 crore has been provided for these projects, which is 1,315% more than the average annual Budget allocation of 2009-14.

The completion/ execution 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(s) site, number of working months in a year for particular project site due to climatic conditions etc. All these factors affect the completion/ execution time of the project(s).

Various steps taken by the Government for speedy sanction and implementation of rail projects include (i) setting up of Gati Shakti units (ii) prioritisation of projects (iii) substantial increase in allocation of funds on priority projects (iv) delegation of powers at field level (v) close monitoring of progress of project at various levels, and (vi) 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. This has led to substantial increase in rate of commissioning since 2014.

In the reply to the question of the operation of new trains announced during the last five years in Gujarat, the minister stated, “Indian Railways do not operate train services on a State-wise basis as Railway network straddle across state boundaries. However, 86 train services on an originating-terminating basis, serving the stations located in the state of Gujarat have been introduced during April, 2018-March, 2023” DeshGujarat