Southern Railway Plans Capacity Enhancement on Tambaram, Arakkonam and North Chennai Routes.

The Centre is undertaking a series of railway infrastructure projects, including new lines, doubling and multitracking works, to ease congestion and improve connectivity across Chennai’s suburban network and neighbouring districts.

The Beach-Chengalpet suburban corridor currently handles a daily passenger footfall of 10,21,110, while the Beach-Arakkonam section caters to around 5,10,080 passengers, highlighting the need for capacity augmentation on these busy routes.

Responding to a question from Lok Sabha MP R Sudha on railway capacity enhancement works in Tamil Nadu, Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said the ministry has sanctioned the 30-km Tambaram-Chengalpet fourth line project at an estimated cost of ₹757 crore.

He said two other major railway capacity expansion projects around Chennai are currently under execution.

These include the 68-km Arakkonam-Chengalpet doubling project, estimated at ₹993 crore, and the 23-km Attipattu-Gummidipundi third and fourth line project, with an estimated cost of ₹365 crore.

The projects are aimed at improving line capacity across Chennai’s western, northern and southern suburban corridors, reducing congestion and enabling smoother movement of both passenger and freight trains.

The Railway Ministry is also planning additional capacity enhancement projects. A detailed project report (DPR) has been completed for the 90-km Gummidipundi-Gudur third and fourth line project. Surveys have been sanctioned for the Villupuram-Nagercoil third and fourth line project, Villupuram-Thanjavur doubling project and Manamadurai-Rameswaram doubling project. The DPR for the Thanjavur-Thiruvarur-Karaikal doubling project has also been completed.

Vaishnaw said completion of a DPR or survey does not automatically result in project approval. Proposals need to undergo consultations with state governments and secure clearances from agencies, including NITI Aayog and the Ministry of Finance, before final sanction.

He also highlighted land acquisition as one of the major challenges affecting the pace of railway project implementation in Tamil Nadu.