New Delhi, July 26 : Indian Railways has achieved a "remarkable expansion" of 31,180 km from 2014 to 2024, with an average commissioning rate of 8.54 km per day for new lines, gauge conversions, and doubling sections, according to information provided to Parliament on Friday.

Railways Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw told the Rajya Sabha, in a written reply, that presently 651 surveys of new line, gauge conversion, and doubling having a total length of 49,983 km have been taken up on Indian Railways under PM Gati Shakti National Master Plan (NMP) for the development of multimodal connectivity infrastructure to various Economic Zones.

The objective is to have integrated planning, enhanced logistics efficiency, and remove gaps for seamless movement of people, goods and services including connectivity to industrial clusters, ports, mines, power plants, tourist and cultural places and agricultural zones, the minister added.

An average annual Budget allocation of Rs 68,634 crore for new line, gauge conversion, and doubling projects across Indian Railways has been made in 2024-25, Vashnaw stated.

As of April 1, 2024, across Indian Railways, 488 Railway Infrastructure projects (187 new line, 40 gauge conversion and 261 doubling) of total length 44,488 km, costing approx. Rs 7.44 lakh crore are in the planning/approval/construction stage, out of which, 12,045 km length has been commissioned and expenditure of approximately Rs 2.92 lakh crore has been incurred up to March 2024, the minister said.

Railway projects are surveyed/sanctioned/executed Zonal Railway-wise and not state/area-wise/district-wise as the railway projects may span across state boundaries. Furthermore, railway infrastructure projects are taken up on the basis of remunerativeness, 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, Vaishnaw added.

/IANS