Lok Sabha Question No. 2811 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2025-08-06
Subject: Mission Raftaar for Tamil Nadu and Southern Railway Zone
Ministry: RAILWAYS
Asked by: Dr. Kalanidhi Veeraswamy

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF RAILWAYS

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 2811

## TO BE ANSWERED ON 06.08.2025

## MISSION RAFTAAR FOR TAMIL NADU AND SOUTHERN RAILWAY ZONE

2811. DR. KALANIDHI VEERASWAMY:

Will the Minister of RAILWAYS be pleased to state:

- (a)  the  details  of  routes  selected  under  the  mission  Raftaar  across  the country particularly in Tamil Nadu and the Southern Railway zone; State and zone-wise;
- (b)  whether  Tamil  Nadu  has  received  proportionate  allocation  and  focus under the said Mission as compared to Northern and Western zones, if so, the details thereof;
- (c) if not, the reasons for this regional imbalance; and
- (d)  whether  the  Government  proposes  to  extend  the  said  Mission  to  key congested routes in Tamil Nadu such as Chennai-Madurai, ChennaiCoimbatore  and  Tiruchirappalli-Rameswaram  and  if  so,  the  details  thereof including the timeline for its implementation?

## ANSWER

MINISTER OF RAILWAYS, INFORMATION & BROADCASTING AND ELECTRONICS & INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

## (SHRI ASHWINI VAISHNAW)

- (a) to (d) Mission Raftaar was announced in the Railway Budget 2016-17 with the target of increasing the average speed  of freight and superfast mail/express  trains.  Speeding  up  of  trains  is  a  constant  endeavor  and  a continuous process which is dependent upon upgradation of tracks, signaling system, OHE, high powered locos, modern coaches etc.

The  medium-term  and  long-term  plans  to  achieve  the  Mission  include infrastructure  improvement    i.e.  construction  of  3 rd   line/4 th line,  providing bypasses, rail flyovers, right-powering of trains, replacement of conventional loco hauled trains by MEMUs, time-tabling changes, modification of 1x25 KV traction system to 2x25 KV traction system, etc.

Upgradation  and  improvement  of  railway  tracks  on  Indian  Railways  to increase the speed potential have been carried out in a big way during last 10  years.  The  measures  for  track  upgradation  include  use  of  60  kg  rails, wider  base  concrete  sleepers,  thick  web  switches,  longer  rail  panels,  H Beam sleepers, modern track renewal and maintenance machines, etc.

As a result of the above measures, there has been a significant increase in the speed potential of the tracks. The details of speed potential of railway tracks during 2014 vis-à-vis 2025 are as under:

| Sectional Speed (kmph)   | 2014     | 2014   | 2025     | 2025   |
|--------------------------|----------|--------|----------|--------|
|                          | Track Km | %      | Track Km | %      |
| < 110                    | 47,897   | 60.4   | 22,862   | 21.6   |
| 110-130                  | 26,409   | 33.3   | 59,800   | 56.6   |
| 130 & above              | 5,036    | 6.3    | 23,010   | 21.8   |
| Total                    | 79,342   | 100    | 1,05,672 | 100    |

The  above  includes upgradation of  speed  upto  110kmph/130kmph  for following section:

- (i) Chennai-Madurai
- (ii) Chennai-Coimbatore
- (iii) Tiruchirappalli-Rameswaram

Railway projects in Tamil Nadu are covered by Southern Railway (SR), South Central  Railway  (SCR)  and  South  Western  Railway  (SWR)  zone  of  Indian Railways. Zonal Railway wise details of Railway projects are made available in public domain of Indian Railway's website.

To improve the connectivity in Tamil Nadu, as on 01.04.2025, 15 projects (09 New Line, 03 Gauge Conversion and 03 doubling) of total length 1,700 Km, costing  ₹22,808  Crore,  falling  fully/partly  in  the  State  of  Tamil  Nadu,  are sanctioned,  out  of  which  665  Km  length  has  been  commissioned  and  an expenditure  of  ₹7,591  Crore  has  been  incurred  upto  March'  2025.  The summary is as under:-

| Plan Head                |   No. of Projects | Total Length (in Km)   |   Length Commissioned (in Km) | Expenditure upto March 2024 (₹ in Cr.)   |
|--------------------------|-------------------|------------------------|-------------------------------|------------------------------------------|
| New Line                 |                09 | 812                    |                            24 | 1,337                                    |
| Gauge Conversion         |                03 | 748                    |                           604 | 3471                                     |
| Doubling/ Multi tracking |                03 | 140                    |                            37 | 2783                                     |
| Total                    |                15 | 1,700                  |                           665 | 7,591                                    |

Budget  allocation for infrastructure projects and  safety works,  falling fully/partly in the State of Tamil Nadu is as under:-

| Period   | Outlay                            |
|----------|-----------------------------------|
| 2009-14  | ₹879 crore/year                   |
| 2025-26  | ₹6626 crore (more than 7.5 times) |

Execution of important infrastructure projects falling fully/partly in the State of  Tamil  Nadu  are  held  up  due  to  delay  in  land  acquisition.  Status  of  land acquisition in Tamil Nadu is as under:

| Total Land required for Projects in Tamil Nadu   | 4,315 Ha      |
|--------------------------------------------------|---------------|
| Land Acquired                                    | 1038 Ha (24%) |
| Balance Land to be acquired                      | 3277 Ha (76%) |

Support  of  the  Government  of  Tamil  Nadu  is  needed  to  expedite  the  land acquisition.

Details of some major projects which are delayed due to land acquisition are as under:-

|   SN | Name of the project                        |   Total land required (in Ha) |   Land acquired (in Ha) |   Balance Land to be acquired (in Ha) |
|------|--------------------------------------------|-------------------------------|-------------------------|---------------------------------------|
|    1 | Tindivanam-Tiruvannamalai new line (71 km) |                           273 |                      33 |                                   240 |
|    2 | Attiputtu-Puttur New Line (88 km)          |                           189 |                       0 |                                   189 |
|    3 | Morappur-Dharmapuri (36 km)                |                            93 |                      42 |                                    51 |
|    4 | Mannargudi-Pattukottai(41 km)              |                           196 |                       0 |                                   196 |
|    5 | Thanjavur-Pattukottai (52 km)              |                           152 |                       0 |                                   152 |

Government  of  India  is  geared  up  to  execute  projects,  however  success depends upon the support of Government of Tamil Nadu.

Completion of Railway project/s 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/s site, number of working months in a year for particular project site etc. All these factors affect the completion time and cost of the project/s.

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