Railway proposes to complete 273 kms of new lines including Chandigarh-Morinda-Ludhiana, Kakinada-Kotipalli and Hassan-Bangalore.

Presenting the Rail Budget in the Lok Sabha, Railway Minister Lalu Prasad on Tuesday said apart from nine new lines, the Railways would complete 17 guage conversion projects involving 1,000 kms during this fiscal.

The guage conversion projects included Mansi-Saharsa, Bankura-Sonamukhi, Madurai-Manamadurai, Ranchi-Lohargada and Udaipur-Chittaugarh.

The Railways also propose to complete doubling of 381 kms of lines in the current year as against 206 kms finished in 2003-04.

The doubling of lines includes completion of Jalandhar-Jammu Tawi line.

The Railways propose to take up survey of 18 new lines including Machlipattnam-Repalli, Chhapra-Muzaffapur, Chennai-Sriperumbudur and Budge Budge-Pujali.

It would also update the survey of 22 new lines. These include Ongole-Donakonda, Cuddapah-Bangalore, Ratlam-Banswara, Jolarpettai-Hosur and Agartala-Sabroom.

The ministry also would carry out survey for guage conversion of four lines besides updating the survey of 13 other lines.

It will carry out survey for doubling seven lines including Salem-Bangalore and also update surveys for doubling of eight other lines including Pune-Miraj-Kohlapur,

Ramanagram-Mysore and Meerut-Saharanpur.

In 2004-05, electrification of 375 kms has been targeted. These would fall in Kerala (160 route kms), Orissa (153 rms), Uttaranchal (34 rkm) and Uttar Pradesh (28rkm).

During 2003-04, 504 route kms had been electrified including Phagwara-Amritsar, Balasore-Ranital and Jahanabad-Patna.