Centre Approves Three Major Railway Capacity Projects Covering 383 Km in Tamil Nadu

The Central government on Wednesday approved three major railway capacity-enhancement projects in Tamil Nadu covering 383 kilometres, including the key Arakkonam-Renigunta route, to address rail network congestion and boost regional connectivity. The works form part of a broader five-project multitracking initiative approved across four southern states.

The three infrastructure projects sanctioned for Tamil Nadu consist of the 77-kilometre Arakkonam-Renigunta third and fourth lines, the 147-kilometre Hosur-Omalur line doubling, and the 159-kilometre Salem-Karur-Dindigul line doubling. These routes were selected to expand rail line capacity, ease bottlenecks, and improve operational efficiency and scheduling reliability across the southern rail network.

The projects are components of a comprehensive Rs 10,021 crore railway development package that will construct approximately 540 kilometres of fresh track across Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, and Telangana. Together, the five multitracking works will span 17 districts and expand railway access to roughly 2,121 villages populated by approximately 52 lakh residents.

All works are slated for completion by the 2029-30 fiscal year under the PM Gati Shakti National Master Plan. The upgraded routes are structured to support the movement of essential freight commodities, including coal, cement, iron and steel, containers, automobiles, foodgrains, petroleum products, and fertilisers.

According to the Centre, the augmented rail capacity will facilitate an additional 47 million tonnes per annum of freight traffic once operational. The modal shift to rail is also projected to yield substantial environmental and economic savings, cutting crude oil imports by approximately eight crore litres and lowering carbon dioxide emissions by an estimated 42 crore kilograms.