The Indian Railways’ target of doubling of 12,000 kms of existing corridors in the next 5 years, has been termed as “aggressive” by the transport advisor, who also said that more than 300 projects are still pending with it due to lack of resources and other constraints.
Transport Advisor in Niti Ayog, Manoj Singh said the track record of Indian Railways has “not been very impressive” and multiple-gauging of 12,000 kms of corridor will be challenging.
“12,000 kms of doubling in the next five years is very aggressive. They have not done it before. Indian Railways has done only 3,500 kms in the past five years. So, against their historical record, it is aggressive. Also, in the sense of huge projects that they still have to complete,” he said.
Singh was speaking at an event during the ‘Urban Mobility India Expo 2015’ here.
He said there are more than 300 projects that are pending with the Railways due to various reasons.
“Many projects have lacked behind schedule due to lack of resources. More than 300 projects including that of new line, doubling and gauge converging are pending,” he said.
Finding sufficient resources for projects and their timely execution are the two key challenges the railways has to deal with, he said.
“The resource requirement is mammoth. Around (Rs) 3 lakh crore is required for the pending projects. Another (Rs) one lakh crore is needed for the capacity expansion by doubling the corridors. So, total (Rs) four lakh crore is required, though Railway is confident of mobilizing it, “Singh said.
Singh said apart from the financial constraints, Indian Railways has all the expertise to deliver the projects.
“There are a large number of Indian Railways engineers working on major projects like the Konkan project, metro and the dedicated freight corridors. It has the technical expertise to deliver,” he said.
