498 railway projects worth Rs 6.75 lakh crore in the pipeline

The timely completion of any railway project depends on various factors like a quick land acquisition by the state governments, forest clearance by officials of the forest department, shifting of infringing utilities (both underground and overground), statutory clearances from various authorities, geological and topographical conditions of area, law and order situation among other factors, Goyal said.

“All these factors vary from project to project and site to site and affect the completion time and cost of the project, which is finally worked out at the completion stage…lot of monitoring is done in Railways at various levels  and regular meetings are held with the officials of state governments and concerned authorities to resolve the pending issues that are obstructing the progress of projects,” Goyal added.

For capacity enhancement projects, Institutional financing has been done by arranging a loan of Rs 1.5 lakh crore, which has increased Railways’ capacity for committed fund provision for essential projects, Goyal further said.