Rs 30,062 crore worth railway projects underway in Telangana

Of the 2,390 km rail line sanctioned, eight were new lines, and five doubling projects. So far 272 km length had been completed at a cost of Rs 6,514 crore

Hyderabad: Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw informed the Rajya Sabha that 13 railway infrastructure projects measuring 2,390 km worth Rs 30,062 crore were currently under different stages of planning, approval, and execution in Telangana.

Replying to a question posed by BJP member K Laxman, Ashwini Vaishnaw said out of the 2,390 km rail line sanctioned, eight were new lines and five doubling projects and so far about 272 km length had been completed at a cost of Rs 6,514 crore. The eight new line projects covering a length of 1,053 km at a cost of Rs 16,686 crore were in various stages and so far about 221 km length of work had been completed at a cost of Rs 3,596 crore, he said, adding that five doubling projects covering a length of 1,337 km at a cost of Rs13,376 crore, were in various stages of execution and so far 52 km length had been completed at a cost of Rs 2,918 crore.

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He further said that the Railway had taken up five projects — Manoharabad-Kothapalli, Bhadrachalam-Kovvur, Akanapet-Medak, Bhadrachalam-Sathupalli, and Hyderabad-Multi-Modal Transport System Phase II — at a total cost of Rs 7,350 crore, on a cost-sharing basis with the Telangana government. An expenditure of Rs 2,588 crore had been incurred on the projects and so far the Telangana government had deposited Rs 1,279 crore towards its share.

With regard to land acquisition for the projects, the Railway Minister said a total of 2,095 hectares of revenue land and 56 Ha of forest land was required for ongoing railway projects in Telangana, out of which 1,918 Ha revenue land and 41 Ha of forest land had been acquired. Land acquisition of the balance 177 Ha revenue land and forest diversion of 15 Ha were in different stages, he said.

The average budget allocation for infrastructure projects & safety works, in Telangana, during 2014-19 was Rs 1,110 crore per year, which was increased to Rs 2,056 crore in 2019-20, Rs 2,602 crore (2020-21), Rs 2,486 crore (2021-22), Rs 3,048 crore (2022-23) and Rs 4,418 crore had been proposed for 2023-24 fiscal, Vaishnaw said.

During 2014-22, 440 km sections (229 km new line and 211 km doubling) falling in Telangana were commissioned at an average rate of 55.00 km per year, which was 216 percent more than the average commissioning during 2009-14 (17.4 Km/yr), the Minister said.

About the Multi-Modal Transport System Phase II project, Vaishnaw said the project was sanctioned at a cost of Rs 816.55 crore to be shared between Railways and the Telangana government in the ratio 1:2. The Telangana government had released Rs 279.03 crore out of its share of Rs 544.36 crore, he said, adding that there was no State government land involved in the Multi-Modal Transport System phase II project.