Jiribam-Imphal (110.625 km) new line project had been included in Budget in 2003-04. The latest anticipated cost of the project is Rs. 12,264 crore. An expenditure of Rs. 10,089 crore has been incurred upto March, 2020 and an outlay of Rs. 800 crore has been provided for financial year 2020-21.

12km length from Jiribam to Vangaichungpao has been completed and commissioned in March, 2017 and work has been taken up in the available land.

Mining of 46 nos. tunnels out of total 47 tunnels have been completed. Mining of 47.40 km tunnel has been done during 2014-19, which is 110% more than tunnel mining done during 2009-14 (22.52 km).

5 out of 11 major bridges, 108 out of 128 minor bridges, 3 out of 5 Road Over Bridges (ROBs) and 2 out of 12 Road Under Bridges (RUBs) have been completed.

Completion of any Railway project depends on various factors like quick land acquisition by State Government, forest clearance by officials of forest department, shifting of infringing utilities, statutory clearances from various authorities, geological and topographical conditions of area, law and order situation in the area of project site, number of working months in a year for particular project site due to climatic conditions etc. and all these factors differ from project to project and affect the completion time of the project.

Jiribam-Imphal new line project is a challenging project in the hilly terrain of young Himalayas having 47 nos. tunnels, 156 nos. bridges including 141 metre high pier bridge etc. In addition, COVID-19 pandemic has also adversely affected the progress of the work at site. As such, firm completion time of the project cannot be ascertained at this stage.

This information was given by the Minister of Railways and Commerce & Industry, Shri Piyush Goyal in a written reply to a question in Lok Sabha today.

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