NEW DELHI: A parliamentary panel has flagged serious concerns over slow progress in laying of new railway lines and gauge conversion while appreciating the pace of work in doubling, track renewal and electrification.

The standing committee on railways has also pointed to falling revenue due to shortfall in passenger and freight target, bad operating ratio and increased dependence on external borrowing. Railway ministry officials have cited how low cost airlines and massive expansion of roads hit passenger and freight traffic of railways. Moreover, the slump in economy has further hit its revenue.

The report on demand for grants was presented in both Houses of Parliament on Monday.

While lauding the definitive push for network expansion and modernisation in the Budget estimates for 2020-21, the committee has noted that during 2018-19, only 479 km of new lines was laid as against the target of 1,000 km indicating a shortfall of more than 50%. It also observed that the Budget target for 2019-20 was halved to 500km of 2018-19, which was revised to 400 km at revised estimates stage.

"The actuals as of January 2020 were 278 km. The committee members are of the view that downward revision of the plan allocations require reworking of priorities and rescheduling of activities which ultimately lead to tardy progress. The committee therefore, call upon the ministry to review all the pending projects for new lines considering their economic viability, critical importance, etc., and prepare an action plan to implement them in a definite time frame so that these projects are completed expeditiously," the report said.

Similarly, in the case of track renewals, the panel has noted that during 2018-19, against a target of 4,400 km the achievement was 4,181 km. Similarly, during 2019-20, as against the target of 3,900 km, achievement was 3,872 km till January 2020. "The targets for track renewals for 2020-21 have been set at 4,000 km. While appreciating this achievement, the committee recommend that the railways should accord highest priority to this sector and accelerate/ sustain the healthy pace of track renewal currently set as it is central to sustainable operations of railway network," the committee said.

