National Rail Plan 2030 PDF Download
National Rail Plan for India 2030
GOVERNMENT OF INDIA
MINISTRY OF RAILWAYS
LOK SABHA
UNSTARRED QUESTION NO: 2632
ANSWERED ON: 10.03.2021
National Rail Plan for India – 2030
Rajveer (Raju Bhaiya) Singh
Raja Amareshwara Naik
Sukanta Majumdar
Jayanta Kumar Roy
Vellalath Kochukrishnan Nair. Sreekandan
Sangeeta Kumari Singh Deo
Bhola Singh
Shobha Karandlaje
Vinod Kumar Sonkar
Sarmistha Sethi
Will the Minister of RAILWAYS be pleased to state:-
(a) Whether the Railways has prepared a National Rail Plan for India-2030 to create a ‘future ready’ Railway system by the year, 2030;
(b) If so, the details thereof;
(c) Whether the Railways proposes to monetise its Infrastructure Assets and Dedicated Freight Corridor (DFC) assets for operations and maintenance, after its commissioning and if so, the details thereof;
(d) Whether the Government has also launched Vision 2024 for accelerated implementation of certain critical projects by 2024 and if so, the details thereof;
(e) The expected time by which the new DFCs will be commissioned and the funds allocated and spent for this infrastructure project as on 31st December, 2020;
(f) Whether the Government has proposed to introduce two new technologies ‘MetroLite’ and ‘MetroNeo’ to provide metro rail systems at much lesser cost and if so, the details thereof; and
(g) The other steps being taken by the Government to reform Railways in the country?
ANSWER: MINISTER OF RAILWAYS, COMMERCE & INDUSTRY AND CONSUMER AFFAIRS, FOOD & PUBLIC DISTRIBUTION (SHRI PIYUSH GOYAL)
(a) to (g) : A Statement is laid on the Table of the House.
STATEMENT REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO PARTS (a) TO (g) OF UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 2632 BY SHRI RAJVEER SINGH (RAJU BAAIYA), DR. JAYANTA KUMAR ROY, SHRI BHOLA SINGH, SHRIMATI SANGEETA KUMARI SINGH DEO, DR. SUKANTA MAJUMDAR, SHRI VINOD KUMAR SONKAR, KUMARI SHOBHA KARANDLAJE, SHRIMATI SARMISTHA SETHI, SHRI V.K.SREEKANDAN AND SHRI RAJA AMARESHWARA NAIK TO BE ANSWERED IN LOK SABHA ON 10.03.2021 REGARDING NATIONAL RAIL PLAN FOR INDIA – 2030.
(a) and (b): Indian Railways have prepared a National Rail Plan (NRP) for India – 2030. The Plan is to create a ‘future ready’ Railway system by 2030. The NRP is aimed to formulate strategies based on both operational capacities and commercial policy initiatives to increase modal share of the Railways in freight to 45%. The objective of the Plan is to create capacity ahead of demand, which in turn would also cater to future growth in demand right up to 2050 and also increase the modal share of Railways to 45% in freight traffic and to continue to sustain it. The draft plan has been put up in the public domain (The Indian Railways website) and is also being circulated amongst stakeholders for comments / remarks.
The key objectives of the National Rail Plan are:-
- Formulate strategies based on both operational capacities and commercial policy initiatives to increase modal share of the Railways in freight to 45%.
- Reduce transit time of freight substantially by increasing average speed of freight trains to 50Kmph.
- As part of the National Rail Plan, Vision 2024 has been launched for accelerated implementation of certain critical projects by 2024 such as 100% electrification, multi-tracking of congested routes, upgradation of speed to 160 kmph on Delhi-Howrah and Delhi-Mumbai routes, upgradation of speed to 130kmph on all other Golden Quadrilateral-Golden Diagonal (GQ / GD) routes and elimination of all Level Crossings on all GQ / GD route.
- Identify new Dedicated Freight Corridors.
- Identify new High Speed Rail Corridors.
- Assess rolling stock requirement for passenger traffic as well as wagon requirement for freight.
- Assess Locomotive requirement to meet twin objectives of 100% electrification (Green Energy) and increasing freight modal share.
- Assess the total investment in capital that would be required along with a periodical break up.
- Sustained involvement of the Private Sector in areas like operations and ownership of rolling stock, development of freight and passenger terminals, development / operations of track infrastructure etc.
(c): Yes, Sir. The same has been announced in the budget speech of 2020-21, {para 47 (b) & 47 (d) (v)}. The details have not been worked out yet.
(d): Yes, Sir. 58 Super critical Projects of a total length of 3750 kms costing Rs.39,663 Crore, out of which commissioning of 2279 km length has been achieved and an expenditure of Rs.28,891 Crore has been incurred upto March,2020. Similarly, 68 Critical Projects of a total length of 6913 kms costing Rs.75,736 Crore, out of which commissioning of 838 km length has been achieved and an expenditure of Rs.25,434 Crore has been incurred upto March,2020. Till date 25 Super Critical Projects and 3 Critical projects have been completed.
(e): The work related to preparation of Detailed Project Report (DPR) for the following Dedicated Freight Corridors (DFCs) have been entrusted to Dedicated Freight Corridor Corporation of India Limited :-
(i) East Coast Corridor – Kharagpur – Vijaywada- Length 1115 Kms.
(ii) East-West sub Corridor
a. Bhusawal-Wardha-Nagpur-Rajkharswan-Kharagpur-Uluberia- Dankuni – Length-1673 Kms.
b. Rajkharswan-Kalipahari-Andal- 195 Kms.
(iii) North South Sub Corridor – Vijaywada -Nagpur-Itarsi – Length – 975 Kms.
The decision with regard to taking up the new DFCs and mode of implementation and financing is based on the final outcome of the DPR.
(f): Urban transport is an integral part of urban development which is a state subject. Respective state governments are, therefore, responsible for initiating and developing urban transport infrastructure, including metro rail projects / MetroLite / MetroNeo in cities or urban agglomerates. The Central Government considers financial assistance for metro rail proposals, on the basis of the feasibility of the proposal and availability of resources, as and when posed by the concerned state governments. Details of new technologies are as under:-
(i) MetroLite – Standards for Light Urban Rail Transit system called “MetroLite” have been issued by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs in July, 2019. This low-cost solution is suitable for cities with lower projection of ridership that are aspiring for rail-based mass transit system. This system can also be used as feeder to high capacity metro rail system. State Governments have been requested to adopt MetroLite as a prime mode of mass transit in smaller cities. Cost of its construction is about 40% of high capacity metro system. This system is more viable and sustainable due to its very less capital, operation and maintenance costs.
(ii) MetroNeo- MetroNeo is rubber-tyred electric coach powered by overhead traction system running on a road slab with an exclusive right of way, standard specification of which has been issued in November 2020 by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs. It will provide a similar experience and ease of travel in terms of comfort, convenience, safety, punctuality, reliability, & environment-friendliness as that of a conventional metro system. This is suitable for tier-2 cities with lower Peak Hour Peak Direction Traffic (PHPDT). Low capital cost of MetroNeo is attributed to much lighter civil structure due to lesser axle load (10 ton), absence of track and Communications Based Train Control (CBTC) signaling, open and simple station structure, requirement of low power rated electrical equipment, etc. like MetroLite. This system can also be developed either At-Grade or elevated with low curve radius thus avoiding the need for underground construction.
(g): Other steps taken by the Government to reform Railways in the country are:
- Process reforms to improve project execution- Projects have been prioritized into super critical and critical from the point of view of freight traffic and these have been provided with prioritized fund allocation for time-bound completion.
- Business Development Units (BDUs) have been set up to attract new business by providing compelling value-for-money logistics solutions.
- Indian Railways is undertaking a Public Private Partnership (PPP) approach for Passenger Train Operations to enhance overall service quality and operational efficiency.
- Proliferation of indigenously developed automatic train protection system that eliminates train collision due to human error.
- Indian Railways has leveraged digital platforms to encourage transparency in all the facets of functioning to enhance customer satisfaction and outreach.
- In order to provide integrated multi modal solution – end to end planning of transport infrastructure across modes, Indian Railways is part of the Sectoral Group comprising of Infrastructure Ministries such as Civil Aviation (Convener), Shipping, Road Transport and Highways, Housing and Urban Affairs.
National Rail Plan 2030 PDF Download – Click Here