Parliament Question: Lack of Train Services to Tiruvannamalai

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF RAILWAYS LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 3932 TO BE ANSWERED ON 12.08.2026 LACK OF TRAIN SERVICES TO TIRUVANNAMALAI 3932. SHRI C N ANNADURAI: Will the Minister of RAILWAYS be pleased to state: (a) whether the Government is aware that even after 15 years since the gauge conversion, Tiruvannamalai (a major pilgrimage and spiritual destination in India and the second-largest district in Tamil Nadu) lacks essential daily train services to Chennai, Coimbatore, Bengaluru and Puducherry and if so, the details thereof; (b) the details of the measures taken to restore the Chennai-Tiruvannamalai train service via Tambaram, Tindivanam and Villupuram which is urgently required for the people of this region and pilgrims visiting Tiruvannamalai; (c) whether the Government proposes to extend the existing train services like 66064 Puducherry-Villupuram MEMU up to Tiruvannamalai and a new Vande Bharat Express from Tiruvannamalai to Bengaluru to establish essential daily connectivity with these cities for the very first time; (d) if so, the details thereof including the present status of these proposals; and (e) the details of the expected timeline to bridge these long pending connectivity gaps? ANSWER MINISTER OF RAILWAYS, INFORMATION & BROADCASTING AND ELECTRONICS & INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY (SHRI ASHWINI VAISHNAW) (a) to (e) Indian Railways, have introduced 17069/17070 Hyderabad - Kanniyakumari Express (w.e.f. 01.04.2026) and 17615/17616 Kacheguda - Tuticorin Express (w.e.f. 06.04.2026) both having scheduled stoppage at Tiruvannamalai station, thereby facilitating the passengers of the said § Page 1 of 10station. Accordingly, Tiruvannamalai station is presently served by the following 28 train services: SN Train No. and Name 1 11005 Dadar - Puducherry Express 2 11006 Puducherry - Dadar Express 3 12867 Howrah - Puducherry Express 4 12868 Puducherry - Howrah Express 5 16779 Tirupati - Rameswaram Express 6 16780 Rameswaram - Tirupati Express 7 16853 Tirupati - Villupuram Express 8 16854 Villupuram - Tirupati Express 9 16870 Villupuram - Tirupati Express 10 17069 Hyderabad - Kanniyakumari Express 11 17070 Kanniyakumari - Hyderabad Express 12 17077 Charlapalli - Tiruchchirappalli Express 13 17078 Tiruchchirappalli - Charlapalli Express 14 17291 Narasapur - Tiruvannamalai Express 15 17292 Tiruvannamalai - Narasapur Express 16 17407 Tirupati - Mannargudi Express 17 17408 Mannargudi - Tirupati Express 18 17615 Kacheguda - Tuticorin Express 19 17616 Tuticorin - Kacheguda Express 20 22603 Kharagpur - Villupuram Express 21 22604 Villupuram - Kharagpur Express 22 22605 Purulia - Tirunelveli Express 23 22606 Tirunelveli - Purulia Express 24 66025 Katpadi - Villupuram MEMU 25 66026 Villupuram - Katpadi MEMU 26 66027 Katpadi - Villupuram MEMU Page 2 of 1027 66033 Chennai Beach - Tiruvannamalai MEMU 28 66034 Tiruvannamalai - Tambaram MEMU The above train services include 3 pairs of trains connecting Tiruvannamalai with Chennai, 02 pairs providing connectivity to Puducherry and 1 pair of trains providing connectivity to Bengaluru. The sector-wise trains are listed below: Tiruvannamalai - Chennai sector: SN Train No. and Name 1 22603/22604 Kharagpur - Villupuram Express 2 22605/22606 Purulia - Tirunelveli Express 3 66033/66034 Chennai Beach - Tiruvannamalai MEMU (daily) Tiruvannamalai - Puducherry sector: SN Train No. and Name 1 12867/12868 Howrah - Puducherry Express 2 11005/11006 Dadar - Puducherry Express Tiruvannamalai - Bengaluru sector: SN Train No. and Name 1 11005/11006 Dadar - Puducherry Express Further, Chennai is connected to Villupuram by 53 pair of Mail/Express trains while Villupuram - Tiruvannamalai sector is served by 10 pairs of Mail/Express trains as listed below: Trains serving Chennai- Villupuram sector: SN Train No. and Name 1 11017/11018 Lokmanya Tilak (T) - Karaikal Express 2 12605/12606 Chennai Egmore - Karaikkudi Express 3 12631/12632 Chennai Egmore - Tirunelveli Express 4 12633/12634 Chennai Egmore - Kanniyakumari Express 5 12635/12636 Chennai Egmore - Madurai Express Page 3 of 106 12637/12638 Chennai Egmore - Madurai Express 7 12641/12642 Kanniyakumari - Hazrat Nizamuddin Express 8 12651/12652 Madurai - Hazrat Nizamuddin Express 9 12653/12654 Chennai Egmore - Tiruchchirappalli Express 10 12661/12662 Chennai Egmore - Sengottai Express 11 12663/12664 Howrah - Tiruchchirappalli Express 12 12665/12666 Howrah - Kanniyakumari Express 13 12667/12668 Tambaram - Kanniyakumari Express 14 12693/12694 Chennai Egmore - Tuticorin Express 15 16101/16102 Tambaram - Kollam Express 16 16103/16104 Tambaram - Rameswaram Express 17 16115/16116 Chennai Egmore - Puducherry Express 18 16121/16122 Tambaram - Thiruvananthapuram Central Amrit Bharat Express 19 16127/16128 Chennai Egmore - Guruvayur Express 20 16159/16160 Chennai Egmore - Mangalore Central Express 21 16175/16176 Chennai Egmore - Velankanni Express 22 16179/16180 Chennai Egmore - Mannargudi Express 23 16357/16358 Nagercoil Junction - Charlapalli Amrit Bharat Express 24 16367/16368 Kanniyakumari - Banaras Express 25 16751/16752 Chennai Egmore - Rameswaram Express 26 16807/16808 Tambaram - Tiruchchirappalli Express 27 16865/16866 Chennai Egmore - Thanjavur Express 28 17653/17654 Kacheguda - Puducherry Express 29 17655/17656 Kakinada Port - Puducherry Express 30 20481/20482 Jodhpur - Tiruchchirappalli Express 31 20497/20498 Rameswaram - Firozpur Cantt. Express 32 20605/20606 Chennai Egmore - Tiruchendur Express Page 4 of 1033 20609/20610 New Jalpaiguri - Tiruchchirappalli Amrit Bharat Express 34 20627/20628 Chennai Egmore - Nagercoil Junction Vande Bharat Express 35 20635/20636 Chennai Egmore - Kollam Express 36 20665/20666 Chennai Egmore - Tirunelveli Vande Bharat Express 37 20681/20682 Tambaram - Sengottai Express 38 20683/20684 Tambaram - Sengottai Express 39 20691/20692 Tambaram - Nagercoil Junction Express 40 20849/20850 Bhubaneswar - Rameswaram Express 41 20851/20852 Bhubaneswar - Puducherry Express 42 22153/22154 Chennai Egmore - Salem Express 43 22403/22404 Puducherry - New Delhi Express 44 22535/22536 Rameswaram - Banaras Express 45 22603/22604 Kharagpur - Villupuram Express 46 22605/22606 Purulia - Tirunelveli Express 47 22613/22614 Rameswaram - Ayodhya Cantt Express 48 22623/22624 Tambaram - Madurai Express 49 22631/22632 Madurai - Bikaner Express 50 22657/22658 Tambaram - Kanniyakumari Express 51 22661/22662 Chennai Egmore - Rameswaram Express 52 22673/22674 Jodhpur - Mannargudi Express 53 22675/22676 Chennai Egmore - Tiruchchirappalli Express Trains serving Villupuram - Tiruvannamalai sector: SN Train No. and Name 1 11005/11006 Dadar - Puducherry Express 2 12867/12868 Howrah - Puducherry Express 3 16779/16780 Tirupati - Rameswaram Express 4 16853/16854 Tirupati - Villupuram Express Page 5 of 105 17069/17070 Hyderabad - Kanniyakumari Express 6 17077/17078 Charlapalli - Tiruchchirappalli Express 7 17407/17408 Tirupati - Mannargudi Express 8 17615/17616 Kacheguda - Tuticorin Express 9 22603/22604 Kharagpur - Villupuram Express 10 22605/22606 Purulia - Tirunelveli Express Besides, introduction/extension of train services including Vande Bharat train services and its variants, on any route/section, which is an on-going process, depends on various factors which include: ● Capacity of that section ● Availability of path ● Availability of required rolling stock ● Availability of matching infrastructure for rolling stock ● Maintenance requirement of railway tracks and other assets ● Occupancy and the traffic requirement of the section Railway Budget: Budget allocation in 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 2026-27 ₹ 7,611 crore (more than 8 times) Track Construction: The details of constructing new track falling fully/partly in the State of Tamil Nadu are as under: Period New track Commissioned 2009-14 923 Km 2014-26 1,356 Km Page 6 of 10Projects sanctioned: As on 01.04.2026, 19 projects (08 new line, 03 gauge conversion and 08 doubling) of total length of 1,874 km, costing ₹27,282 Crore, falling fully/partly in the State of Tamil Nadu have been sanctioned. The summary is as under:- Category No. of Total Length Total Exp. projects Length Commissioned upto March, (in km) upto March, 2026 2026 (in Km) (₹ in Cr.) New Line 8 811 24 1,514 Gauge 3 748 631 3,605 Conversion Doubling 8 314 54 3,693 /Multitracking Total 19 1,874 709 8,811 Recently Completed Projects: Details of some of the recently completed projects falling fully/partly in the State of Tamil Nadu are as under:- S.N. Project Cost (₹ in Crores) 1 Dindigul- Pollachi gauge conversion (121 km) 610 2 Pollachi-Palghat gauge conversion (56 km) 350 3 Pollachi-Podhanur gauge conversion (40 km) 400 4 Quilon- Tiruchendur gauge conversion (357 km) 1,122 5 Mayiladuturai - Karaikkudi gauge conversion (187 1,338 km) 6 Madurai-Bodinayakkanur gauge conversion (90 593 km) 7 Chengalpattu-Villupuram doubling (102 km) 670 8 Tiruvallur-Arakkonam 4th line (27 km) 83 Page 7 of 109 Thanjavur-Ponmalai doubling (48 km) 370 10 Villupuram-Dindigul doubling (273 km) 2,000 11 Chennai Beach-Attipattu 4th line (22 km) 293 12 Omalur-Metturdam Patch doubling (29 km) 327 13 Chengalpattu - Villupuram and Tambaram - 1,122 Chengalpattu-3rd line (133 km) 14 Salem- Omalur doubling (11 km) 115 15 Madurai- Tuticorin doubling (160 km) 1,891 16 Maniyachi-Nagercoil doubling (102 km) 1,752 17 Chennai Beach-Chennai Egmore doubling (4 km) 272 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 Trivandrum-Kanyakumari doubling (87 km) 4,494 4 Irugur-Podanur doubling (11 km) 277 5 Tambaram-Chengalpattu 4th line (30 km) 757 6 Attipattu-Gummidipundi 3rd & 4th line (23 km) 365 7 Tirupati- Katpadi doubling (105 km) 1,216 8 Tindivanam- Tiruvannamalai new line (71 km) 1,400 9 Atipattu – Puttur new line (88 km) 1,700 10 Baiyapannahalli to Hosur doubling (48 km) 1,160 11 Arakkonam-Chengalpattu doubling (68 km) 993 12 Erode- Karur doubling (67 km) 986 Page 8 of 10Execution of important infrastructure projects falling fully/partly in the State of Tamil Nadu are held up due to delay in land acquisition. Present status of land acquisition in Tamil Nadu is as under: Total Land required for Projects in Tamil 4,612 ha Nadu Land Acquired 1,178 ha (26%) Balance Land to be acquired 3,434 ha (74%) 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 Land Balance required acquired Land to be (in ha) (in ha) acquired (in ha) 1. Tindivanam - Tiruvannamalai 276 33 243 new line (71 km) 2. Attiputtu - Puttur new line (88 189 0 189 km) 3. Morappur - Dharmapuri new 93 47 46 line (36 km) 4. Mannargudi - Pattukkottai new 204 0 204 line (41 km) 5. Thanjavur - Pattukottai new 152 0 152 line (52 km) Further, Rameshwaram – 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. Page 9 of 10The Government of India is geared up to execute projects, however success depends upon the support of the 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 a particular project site etc. All these factors affect the completion time and cost of the project/s. ***** Page 10 of 10