Cabinet approves construction of doubling of railway line with electrification in southern India

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) on Wednesday approved the construction of double line with electrification in three areas in Tamil Nadu and Kerala.

The first approval was given to the double line with electrification between Vanchi-Maniyachchi- Nagercoil via Tirunelveli in Tamil Nadu.

The total length of the line will be 102 km. The estimated cost of the project will be Rs.1003.94 crore and completion cost of Rs.1114.62 crore with five percent escalation per annum.

The project is likely to be completed in four years by 2020-21. The project will generate direct employment during construction for 24.48 lakh mandays.

The project would not only speed up the operation of goods and coaching trains, but also provide additional capacity for meeting the increase in traffic in future.

Vanchi-Maniyachchi- Nagercoil via Tirunelveli is an important trunk route serving Southern end of Tamil Nadu and Kerala. The section is heavily passenger oriented which also serve the goods traffic from nearby ports. Present line capacity of the section has already gone beyond 90 percent which is causing detention to the moving trains. Line capacity of this route needs to be enhanced to meet the demands for additional trains and smooth movement of trains through the route. Hence, doubling of Vanchi-Maniyachchi- Nagercoil via Tirunelveli with electrification needs to be taken up.

The second railway construction project is Madurai-Vanchi and Maniyachchi-Tuticorin

The total length of this line will be 160 km. The estimated cost of the project will be Rs.1182.31 crore and completion cost of Rs.1272.51 crore with 5% escalation per annum.

The project is likely to be completed in four years by 2020-21. The project will generate direct employment during construction for 38.40 lakh mandays.

The project would not only speed up the operation of goods and coaching trains, but also provide additional capacity for meeting the increase in traffic in future.

Demands are being received for introduction of additional trains for this area to serve the local people, the ever increasing tourists desiring to visit the area and the traffic originating to/from Ports. Present line capacity utilisation of the section on trunk route is 106 percent which is likely to increase to 154 percent in next four years. This would cause detention to passenger and goods trains on trunk route and that originating to/from Tuticorin Port in future if double line is not provided on this 160 km section. Hence, doubling of Madurai-Vanchi Maniyachchi-Tuticorin with electrification needs to be taken up.

The third railway project given cabinet approval is between Thiruvananthapuram and Kanniyakumari

The total length of the line will be 86.56 km. The estimated cost of the project will be Rs.1431.90 crore and completion cost of Rs.1552.94 crore with 5% escalation per annum.

The project is likely to be completed in four years by 2020-21. The project will generate direct employment during construction for 20.77 lakh mandays.

The project would not only speed up the operation of goods and coaching trains, but also provide additional capacity for meeting the increase in traffic in future.

The section is heavily passenger oriented which also serve the goods traffic from nearby ports. Operations from Vizhinjam port is likely to start by 2019 and 30 percent of its gateway traffic is likely to be handled by Railways. Present line capacity of Thiruvananthapuram-Nagarcoil section of this route has already saturated which is causing heavy detention to trains moving towards Kanniyakumari and Chennai. Line capacity of this route needs to be enhanced to meet the demands for additional trains and smooth movement of trains through the route. Hence, doubling of Thiruvananthapuram and Kanniyakumari line needs to be taken up.