Railway triples construction by building 13,600 bridges in 11 years; works pending due to various state govts: Union Minister Vaishnaw

New Delhi [India], December 10 (ANI): Union Minister for Railways Ashwini Vaishnaw on Wednesday informed the Lok Sabha that 13,653 Road Over Bridges/Road Under Bridges have been constructed since 2014 to October 2025, with the sanctioning and execution of works being a continuous and ongoing process on Indian Railways, with works being prioritised and taken up on the basis of its impact on safety and mobility in train operations and impact on road users.
According to the minister, only 4,148 ROB/RUBs were constructed between 2004 and 2014.
The construction work of ROB in lieu of LC No. 43/Spl/E at KM 239/9-10 in Azimganj- New Farakka section of Malda Division has been sanctioned. The work for the preparation of the General Arrangement Drawing (GAD) and Detailed Estimate has been taken up, the minister told the Lok Sabha.
Out of 302 sanctioned ROB/RUB works in West Bengal, 99 Nos. ROB/RUB works are delayed on account of the State Government.
According to the Railway Minister, 41 works in West Bengal are in finalization of Alignment; 14 are delayed due to General Arrangement Drawing stage; 27 for NOC for closure of LC; 10 due to land acquisition; 7 due to Law and order or public protest, amounting to 99 works left pending.
"Similarly, in Telangana, out of 63 sanctioned ROB works in Telangana, 17 Nos. ROB works are delayed on account of the state government. 16 projects are delayed due to land acquisition, and one is due to finalisation of Alignment," Vaishnaw said.
"As of November 1, 4689 ROBs/ RUBs are sanctioned at the cost of ₹1,11,583 Cr on Indian Railways, including 316 Road Over Bridge (ROB)/Road Under Bridge (RUB) at a cost of ₹ 11,686 crore in the State of Andhra Pradesh, which are at various stages of planning and execution," he said.
During 2023-24 to 2024-25, 252 ROB/RUB works were completed in Uttar Pradesh.
275 ROBs/RUBs are sanctioned at a cost of Rs 5,506 Cr. in the state of Maharashtra, which are at various stages of planning and execution.
"Completion & commissioning of ROB/RUB works depends on various factors like cooperation of State Governments in giving consent for closure of LC, fixing of approach alignment, approval of General Arrangement Drawing (GAD), land acquisition, removal of encroachment, shifting of infringing utilities, statutory clearances from various authorities, law and order situation in the area of project/work sites, duration of working season in a year for the particular project/area due to climatic conditions etc. All these factors affect the completion time of the projects/ works," the union minister said.
According to Ashwini Vaishnaw, the Railway ministry has undertaken a few measures to expedite the progress of ROB/RUB works, including Joint survey with concerned State Govt./Road Owning Authority is done before finalizing the General Arrangement Drawing (GAD) to ensure smooth execution; Periodic meetings of Railway & State Government officials are done to resolve various issues; Standardization of superstructure drawings for various combinations of span, skewness and width of road on the Railway portion has been done to avoid delays during the design approval; works are planned to be executed on a single entity basis by Railway wherever possible. In case any Road Owning authority/State Govt. wants, then the Railway may permit them to execute the work on a single entity basis. (ANI)