Lok Sabha Question No. 5500 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2026-03-25
Subject: Doubling of Villupuram–Pondicherry Railway Track
Ministry: RAILWAYS
Asked by: Dr. D Ravi Kumar

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA

## MINISTRY OF RAILWAYS

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 5500 TO BE ANSWERED ON 25.03.2026

## DOUBLING OF VILLUPURAM-PONDICHERRY RAILWAY TRACK

## 5500. DR. D RAVI KUMAR:

Will the Minister of RAILWAYS be pleased to state:

- (a) whether the Government is aware of the demand for a double line on the  Villupuram-  Pondicherry  railway  track  to  improve  train  capacity, reduce congestion and ensure faster and safer operations and if so, the details thereof;
- (b)  whether any survey, Detailed Project Report (DPR) or feasibility study has been undertaken for this project during the last three years and if so, the details and findings thereof;
- (c) whether  funds  have  been  allocated  or  sanctioned  for  construction, electrification  and  related  works  on  this  route  and  if  so,  the  details
- thereof; and
- (d) the details of the expected timeframe for approval, commencement and completion of the Villupuram-Pondicherry double line railway project?

## ANSWER

MINISTER OF RAILWAYS, INFORMATION & BROADCASTING AND

ELECTRONICS & INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

(SHRI ASHWINI VAISHNAW)

(a)  to  (d):  Presently,  Villupuram-Puducherry  section  is  being  served  by  9 pairs of trains. At present, the section has adequate line capacity to meet the current traffic. To further improve the connectivity in the region, Final Location Survey (FLS) for New Line between Tindivanam and Cuddalore via Puducherry has been sanctioned for preparation of Detailed Project Report (DPR).

§

After preparation of Detailed Project Report (DPR), sanctioning of project requires consultation with various stake-holders including State Governments  and  necessary  approvals  viz.  appraisal  of  NITI  Aayog, Ministry  of  Finance  etc.  As  sanctioning  of  projects  is  a  continuous  and dynamic process, exact timelines cannot be fixed.

## Tamil Nadu:-

## Railway Budget:-

Budget allocation  in  the  recent  years  has  increased  significantly.  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) |

## Project sanctioned:-

As  on  01.04.2025,  15  projects  (09  new  line,  03  gauge  conversion  and  03 doubling) of 1,700 km length, costing ₹22,808 Crore, falling fully/partly in the State of Tamil Nadu, are sanctioned.  The summary is as under:-

| Category                |   No. of sanctioned projects | Total Length (in km)   |   Length Commissioned upto Mar'25 (in km) | Expenditure upto Mar' 25 (₹ in Cr.)   |
|-------------------------|------------------------------|------------------------|-------------------------------------------|---------------------------------------|
| New Line                |                            9 | 812                    |                                        24 | 1,337                                 |
| Gauge Conversion        |                            3 | 748                    |                                       604 | 3,471                                 |
| Doubling /Multitracking |                            3 | 140                    |                                        37 | 2,783                                 |
| Total                   |                           15 | 1,700                  |                                       665 | 7,591                                 |

Zonal Railway wise details of Railway projects are made available in public domain on Indian Railway's website.

## Recently Completed Projects:-

Details  of  some  of  the  recently  completed  projects  falling  fully/partly  in Tamil Nadu are as under :

|   S. N. | Project                                                                | Cost (₹in Crores)   |
|---------|------------------------------------------------------------------------|---------------------|
|       1 | Dindigul-Palani-Pollachi gauge conversion (121 km)                     | 610                 |
|       2 | Pollachi-Palghat gauge conversion (56 km)                              | 350                 |
|       3 | Pollachi-Podhanur gauge conversion (40 km)                             | 400                 |
|       4 | Quilon-Tirunelveli - Tiruchendur gauge conversion (357 km)             | 1,122               |
|       5 | Mayiladuturai - Thiruvarur - Karaikkudi gauge conversion (187 km)      | 1,338               |
|       6 | Madurai-Bodiyakannur gauge conversion (90 km)                          | 593                 |
|       7 | Chengalpattu-Villupuram doubling (102 km)                              | 670                 |
|       8 | Tiruvallur-Arakkonam 4th line (27 km)                                  | 83                  |
|       9 | Chennai Central-Basin Bridge doubling (2 km)                           | 31                  |
|      10 | Thanjavur-Ponmalai doubling (48 km)                                    | 370                 |
|      11 | Villupuram-Dindigul doubling (273 km)                                  | 2,000               |
|      12 | Chennai Beach-Korukkupet 3rd line (5 km)                               | 168                 |
|      13 | Chennai Beach-Attipattu 4th line (22 km)                               | 293                 |
|      14 | Omalur-Metturdam doubling (29 km)                                      | 327                 |
|      15 | Chengalpattu - Villupuram and Tambaram- Chengalpattu-3rd line (133 km) | 1,122               |
|      16 | Salem-Magnesite Junction-Omalur doubling (11 km)                       | 115                 |
|      17 | Madurai- Maniyachi-Tuticorin doubling (160 km)                         | 1,891               |
|      18 | Maniyachi-Nagercoil doubling (102 km)                                  | 1,752               |
|      19 | Chennai Beach-Chennai Egmore doubling (4 km)                           | 272                 |
|      20 | Karaikal-Peralam new line (23 km)                                      | 373                 |
|      21 | Northern End Port connectivity to Karaikal Port (1 km)                 | 18                  |

## Ongoing Projects:-

Some of the projects falling fully/partly in the State of Tamil Nadu which have been taken up are as under :

|   S.N | Project                                                 | Cost (₹ in Crores)   |
|-------|---------------------------------------------------------|----------------------|
|     1 | Tindivanam-Nagari new line (184 km)                     | 3,631                |
|     2 | Morappur-Dharmapuri new line (36 km)                    | 359                  |
|     3 | Nagapattinam - Tiruturaipundi new line (43 km)          | 742                  |
|     4 | Thiruvananthapuram - Kanyakumari doubling (87 km)       | 3,785                |
|     5 | Arakkonam yard 3rd & 4th line (6 km)                    | 98                   |
|     6 | Perambur - Ambattur 5th & 6th lines (6 km)              | 178                  |
|     7 | Irugur - Podanur doubling (11 km)                       | 277                  |
|     8 | Tambaram - Chengalpattu 4th Line (30 km)                | 757                  |
|     9 | Attipattu - Gummidipundi 3rd & 4th line (23 km)         | 375                  |
|    10 | Tirupati-Pakala-Katpadi doubling (105 km)               | 1,332                |
|    11 | Tindivanam - Gingee -Tiruvannamalai new line (71 km)    | 1,400                |
|    12 | Atipattu - Puttur new line (88 km)                      | 1,700                |
|    13 | Chennai - Cuddulore via Mahabalipuram new line (179 km) | 2,670                |

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   | 4,326 ha       |
|--------------------------------------------------|----------------|
| Land Acquired                                    | 1,052 ha (24%) |
| Balance Land to be acquired                      | 3,274 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 |                           276 |                      33 |                                   243 |

|    | line (71 km)                             |     |    |     |
|----|------------------------------------------|-----|----|-----|
|  2 | Attiputtu-Puttur new line (88 km)        | 189 |  0 | 189 |
|  3 | Morappur-Dharmapuri new line (36 km)     |  92 | 45 |  47 |
|  4 | Mannargudi-Pattukkottai new line (41 km) | 196 |  0 | 196 |
|  5 | Thanjavur-Pattukottai new line (52 km)   | 152 |  0 | 152 |

Further, Rameswaram - Dhanushkodi new line (18 km) was sanctioned at a cost  of  ₹734  Cr.  The  Foundation  Stone  of  the  project  was  laid  on 01.03.2019.  However,  the  project  could  not  be  started  because  the  land acquisition has not been undertaken by the State Govt. of Tamil Nadu.

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

Sanction  of  any  railway  project  depends  upon  many  parameters/factors which include the following:

-  Anticipated traffic projections and remunerativeness of the proposed route
-  First and last mile connectivity provided by the project
-  Connection of missing links and providing additional route
-  Augmentation of congested/saturated lines
-  Demands  raised  by  State Governments/Central  Ministries/Public representatives
-  Railway's own operational requirements
-  Socio-economic considerations
-  Overall availability of funds

Completion of Railway project/s depends on various factors which include the following:

-  Land acquisition by State Government

-  Forest clearance
-  Shifting of infringing utilities
-  Statutory clearances from various authorities
-  Geological and topographical conditions of area
-  Law and order situation in the area of project 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.

## Railway Electrification:

Electrification of railway network on Indian Railways has been taken up in mission mode. So far, about 99.4% of Broad Gauge (BG) network has been electrified.  The  electrification  in  remaining  network  has  been  taken  up. Electrification carried out during 2014-25 and before 2014 is as under:-

| Period                       | Route Kilometer   |
|------------------------------|-------------------|
| Before 2014 (about 60 years) | 21,801            |
| 2014-25                      | 46,900            |

In Tamil Nadu, 97% of BG network has been electrified including existing single  line  in  section  of  Villupuram  -  Pondicherry.  Further,  all  new  line  / multitracking projects are being sanctioned and constructed with electrification.

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