New Railway Lines in India
Ministry of Railways
New Rail Lines
Railway Projects are sanctioned Zonal Railway wise, not State wise as Indian Railways’ network spans across various State boundaries. As on 01.04.2020, total 513 projects (189 New line, 54 Gauge Conversion and 270 doubling) covering a total length of 53,039 Km including falling fully/ partly in the state of Delhi/ NCR, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal are in different stages of planning/ sanction/ execution, out of which 10,013 Km length has been commissioned and an expenditure of Rs. 1.86 Lakh Crore has been incurred upto March, 2020.
The project wise details including cost, 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) > Pink Book (Year) > Railway-wise Works, Machinery and Rolling Stock Programme (RSP).
During 2014-19 total 13,124 Km length (New line, Gauge conversion and Doubling) has been commissioned on Indian Railways, which is 73% more than during 2009-14 (7,599 Km).
Completion of any 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 site, number of working months in a year for particular project site due to climate conditions etc. and all these factors differs from project to project and affects the completion time of the project (s).
Average annual expenditure for new lines, Gauge Conversion and Doubling projects over Indian Railways during 2014-19 has increased to Rs. 26,026 Cr/ year from Rs. 11,527 Cr/ year (during 2009-14) which is 126% more than during 2009-14. The expenditure during 2019-20 further increased to Rs. 39,836 Cr., which is 246% more than average annual expenditure of 2009-14 and the highest ever expenditure in any financial year.
This information was given by the Minister of Railways and Commerce & Industry, Shri Piyush Goyal in a written reply to a question in Lok Sabha today.