Railway targets to lay 4,100 km of tracks in 2018-19

New Delhi, Jul 18: Railways has set a target of laying 4,100 km of tracks in 2018-19, which includes 1,000 km of new lines, the Minister of State for Railways Rajen Gohain told the Lok Sabha.

This also includes 1,000 km of gauge conversion and 2,100 km of doubling of lines, he said. "For timely completion of the projects, railway is holding regular meetings with state government and central government officials concerned on various issues involving alignment, land acquisition, forestry and wild life clearances, law and order problems, shifting of utilities," Gohain said.

The minister said that for important projects, capacity enhancement projects, last mile connectivity, institutional financing has been done by arranging loan from the Life Insurance Corporation of India Limited for 1.5 lakh crore, which has increased the railways' capacity for committed fund provision for such projects.

Giving details of railway tracks being laid down daily in the past three years, the minister said while in 2015-2016, 7.75 km were commissioned per day, in 2016-2017 it was 7.82 km and in 2017-2018 5.10 km per day. In 2018-2019 the targeted daily length of commissioning is 11.23 km, he said.

PTI