Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw cited low traffic projections as the reason for not advancing the Una-Hoshiarpur railway line project on Wednesday.
Despite surveying the 40 km line, the project was not pursued further as the expected volume of passengers and freight was deemed too low to justify the investment and to connect Hoshiarpur city with Una and Tanda in Himachal Pradesh.
"Railway projects are sanctioned and executed Zonal Railway wise and not State/District/City wise as Railway projects may span across State boundaries," Vaishnaw said.
He added, "Survey for new railway lines in areas which are not connected by Railway network is a continuous and ongoing process of Indian Railways and is done based on demands raised by State Governments, Ministries of Central Government, Members of Parliament, other elected representatives, organizations/rail users and Railways’ own operational requirements."
According to the Railway Minister, Hoshiarpur, Tanda Urmar and Una are existing Railway Stations on the Indian Railways Network and survey of Hoshiarpur-Tanda Urmar New line (34km) has been sanctioned for preparation of Detailed Project Report.
“Una-Hoshiarpur new line (40 km) survey was carried out. The project could not be taken forward due to low traffic projection. Sanctioning of Railway projects is a continuous and dynamic process of Indian Railway,” Vaishnaw said.
He added, "Railway Infrastructure Projects are taken up on the basis of remunerativeness, last mile connectivity, missing links and alternate routes, augmentation of congested/saturated lines socioeconomic considerations etc. depending upon liabilities of ongoing projects, overall availability of funds and competing demands."
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