Indian Railways achieved highest-ever line expansion target during 2021-22, says govt

New Delhi: The government at the centre claimed on Tuesday that Indian Railways achieved the highest-ever commissioning of line expansion (excluding DFC) during 2021-22 of 2904 km against the target of 2400 km. This includes the new line, doubling and gauge conversion.

According to the rail ministry, during this Financial Year (FY) till December 12, 2022, the national transporter has completed 2022 track kilometres (TKM) of new lines, gauge conversion and multi-tracking projects- 109 TKM of the new line, 102 TKM of gauge conversion and 1811 TKM of multi-tracking have been completed.

Whereas the doubling and multi-tracking- Daund-Gulbarga (225 Km) – Golden Quadrilateral route of Mumbai to Chennai, Vijayawada-Gudivada-Bhimavaram (221 Km) doubling in Andhra Pradesh, Secunderabad-Mahbubnagar doubling (85 Km) in Telangana, Nimach-Chittaurgarh doubling in Rajasthan and MP, Ballia-Ghazipur doubling, Dankuni-Chandanpur 3rd line, Bandel-Bonchi, Bonchi-shaktigarh and Kharagpur-Narayangarh 3rd line in West Bengal, Hajipur-Bachhawara Doubling (72 Km) in Bihar, Kharagpur-Narayangarh 3rd line (20 Km) in West Bengal, Bhaupur-Panki 4th line (11 Km) in Uttar Pradesh, Kuruppanthara – Chingavanam Doubling (27 Km) in Kerala, Jaranghih-Danea doubling in Jharkhand, Sambalpur-Titlagarh Doubling (182 Km) in Odisha are the projects have been completed.

Besides, in gauge conversion, Ahmedabad-Himmatnagar-Udaipur gauge conversion has been done in both Rajasthan and Gujarat. A new line of 56 km from Bhadrachallam to Sattupalli in Telangana has been commissioned. The section from Phoolbagan to Sealdah(2.33 km) of the Kolkata East-West Metro Corridor Project on the standard gauge was completed and commissioned on July, 14 of this year.

Moreover, the last mile connectivity work of Bedi Port has been completed and commissioned on July 22 with major (75 per cent) equity participation of the Gujarat Maritime Board.

This apart, the ministry said that various steps being taken by the government for effective and speedy implementation of rail projects include (i) a substantial increase in allocation of funds on priority projects (ii) delegation of powers at field level- recently powers for permitting blocks and non-interlocked working delegated from Board to Zonal railways which have helped in commissioning of doubling projects (iii) close monitoring of the progress of the project at various levels, and (iv) 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.

Also, the PM Gati Shakti National Master Plan (NMP) was launched in October, last year by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, which aims to bring in a transformative approach to the planning and execution of infrastructural transportation projects.

"The NMP further aims to bring in synergy between the infrastructural sectors such as railways, shipping, roadways, telecommunications, pipelines, etc in order to avoid duplication and wastage of precious national resources with the overall objective of developing Multi-Modal connectivity and reducing the cost of logistics in the country," the ministry added in an official statement.

This NMP also focuses on the NDA government's ambitious plan of indigenisation which will reduce the cost and will substantially improve the global competitiveness of Indian manufacturing, the government claimed.