Lok Sabha Question No. 4348 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2025-03-26
Subject: Delay in Railway Projects in Tamil Nadu
Ministry: RAILWAYS
Asked by: Smt. Kanimozhi Karunanidhi

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA

## MINISTRY OF RAILWAYS

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 4348 TO BE ANSWERED ON 26.03.2025

## DELAY IN RAILWAY PROJECTS IN TAMIL NADU

## 4348.   SMT. KANIMOZHI KARUNANIDHI:

Will the Minister of  RAILWAYS  be pleased to state:

- (a) whether the Union Government is aware that multiple railway projects in Tamil Nadu, including track doubling, electrification and new railway lines have faced significant delays;
- (b) if  so,  the  details  regarding  the  status  of  railway  projects  in Tamil Nadu during the last ten years;
- (c) the  detail  of  the  reasons  for  the  delays  in  completing  the projects despite repeated representations from the Tamil Nadu Government; and
- (d) the  expected  timeline  for  completing  key  pending  projects such as the Madurai-Thoothukkudi doubling project?

## ANSWER

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

## (SHRI ASHWINI VAISHNAW)

(a) to (d): Execution of important infrastructure projects falling fully/partly  in  the State of  Tamil  Nadu  is held up due to delay in land

…2/-

## acquisition. Status of land acquisition in Tamil Nadu is as under:

| Total Land required for Projects in Tamil Nadu   | 4288 Ha        |
|--------------------------------------------------|----------------|
| Land Acquired                                    | 991 Ha ( 23%)  |
| Balance Land to be acquired                      | 3297 Ha ( 77%) |

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 |                       0 |                                    93 |
|    4 | Mannargudi-Pattukkottai (41 km)            |                           152 |                       0 |                                   152 |
|    5 | Thanjavur-Pattukottai (52 km)              |                           196 |                       0 |                                   196 |

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

Further, Railway  projects  are  surveyed/sanctioned/executed  Zonal Railway wise and not State-wise as the Railways' projects may span across  State  boundaries.  Railway  projects  are  sanctioned  on  the basis of  remunerativeness,  traffic  projections,  last mile connectivity …3/-

missing links and alternate routes, augmentation of congested/saturated  lines,  demands  raised  by  State  Governments, Central Ministries, Members of Parliament, other public representatives, Railway's own operational requirement, socioeconomic considerations etc. depending upon throwforward of ongoing projects and overall availability of funds.

As on 01.04.2024, 22 projects (10 New Line, 03 Gauge Conversion and 09  Doubling)  of  total  length  2,587  Km,  costing  ₹33,467  Crore,  falling fully/partly  in  the  State  of  Tamil  Nadu,  are  at  various  stages  of planning  and  implementation,  out  of  which  665  Km  length  has  been commissioned and an expenditure of ₹7,154 Crore  has  been  incurred upto  March' 2024.  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                |                10 | 872                    |                            24 | 1,223                                   |
| Gauge Conversion        |                 3 | 748                    |                           604 | 3,267                                   |
| Doubling /Multitracking |                 9 | 967                    |                            37 | 2,664                                   |
| Total                   |                22 | 2,587                  |                           665 | 7,154                                   |

Madurai-Thoothukkudi(Tuticorin)  via  Maniyachi  doubling  project  has been completed in july 2023.

Till date, about 96% of Broad Gauge network situated in the State of Tamil  Nadu  has  been  electrified.  The  work  of  electrification  in  the balance sections has been taken up.

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  | ₹ 6,626 crore (more than 7.5 times) |

The completion of any Railway project depends on various factors like quick  land  acquisition  by  State  Government,  forest  clearance  by officials  of  forest  department,  deposition  of  cost  share  by  State Government  in  cost  sharing  projects,  priority  of  projects,  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 due to climate conditions etc.

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