Completion of on-going and new railway projects in West Bengal

Railway projects are surveyed/sanctioned/executed on #ZonalRailway-wise and not #State-wise as these projects may span across State boundaries

New Delhi: Sanctioning of #Railway projects is a continuous and dynamic process of #IndianRailway. Railway infrastructure projects are taken up on the basis of remunerativeness, traffic projections, last mile connectivity, missing links and alternate routes, augmentation of congested/saturated lines socio-economic considerations etc. depending upon liabilities of ongoing projects, overall availability of funds and competing demands.

Railway #Infrastructure Projects falling fully/partly in the State of #WestBengal are covered under Eastern Railway (#ER), South Eastern Railway (#SER) and Northeast Frontier Railway (#NFR) Zones of Indian Railways. Zonal Railway wise details of Railway projects including cost, expenditure and outlay are made available in public domain.

As on 01.04.2024, 43 projects (13 New Lines, 4 Gauge Conversions and 26 Doubling), of total length of 4479 Km, costing ₹60,168 crore falling fully/partly in the State of West Bengal including those which are in #planning/#approval/#construction stage, out of which, 1655 km length has been commissioned and an expenditure of ₹20,434 crore has been incurred upto March, 2024. The summary is as under:

The details of outlay for infrastructure projects falling fully/partly in the State of West Bengal is as under:

Though fund allocation has increased manifold but pace of execution of project is dependent on expeditious land acquisition. Railway acquires the land through State Government and the completion of a railway projects is dependent of land acquisition.

Execution of important infrastructure projects falling fully/partly in the State of West Bengal are held up due to delay in land acquisition. Status of land acquisition in the State of West Bengal is as under:

Government of India is geared up to execute projects, however success depends upon the support of Government of West Bengal. For instance, details of some major projects which are delayed due to land acquisition are as under:

The completion of any #Railway-project depends on various factors like quick land acquisition by State Government, forest clearance by officials of forest department, deposition of cost share by State Government in cost sharing projects, priority of projects, 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.

Various steps taken by the #Government for speedy approval and implementation of Railway projects include-

(i) setting up of #GatiShakti 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.