Parliament Question: Pending Railway Line Doubling Works between Kayamkulam and Ernakulam in Kerala

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF RAILWAYS LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 1967 TO BE ANSWERED ON 11.02.2026 PENDING RAILWAY LINE DOUBLING WORKS BETWEEN KAYAMKULAM AND ERNAKULAM IN KERALA

1967. SHRI KODIKUNNIL SURESH:

Will the Minister of RAILWAYS be pleased to state:

(a) the present status of the pending railway line doubling works between Kayamkulam and Ernakulam, section-wise and project-wise;

(b) the reasons for the prolonged delay in completion of the said doubling works particularly in land acquisition, fund allocation and execution issues;

(c) the details of the total funds sanctioned, released and utilised for the project so far; and

(d) the details of the timeline fixed by the Government for completion of the remaining works and the steps taken to expedite the project in view of heavy passenger density and operational constraints on this crucial rail corridor in Kerala? ANSWER MINISTER OF RAILWAYS, INFORMATION & BROADCASTING AND ELECTRONICS & INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY (SHRI ASHWINI VAISHNAW)

(a) to (d): Ernakulam and Kayamkulam are connected through two routes, first via Kottayam and second via Ambalapuzha.

The first route via Kottayam is already a double-line section. While the second route via Ambalapuzha is partly double line and partly single line at present. The status of doubling of Ernakulam to Kayamkulam via

Ambalapuzha is tabulated below: ...2/- §-2- S.

Section Status N 1 Ernakulam – Kumbalam – Thuravur (23 Doubling Sanctioned.

Km) Works taken up 2 Thuravur – Mararikulam (21 Km) DPR prepared 3 Field Survey completed.

Mararikulam – Alappuzha (12 Km) DPR preparation taken up 4 Alappuzha- Ambalapuzha (13 Km) DPR prepared 5 Ambalapuzha-Kayamkulam (31 Km) Already double line 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.

Kerala:- Budget allocation in the recent years has increased significantly. Budget allocation for infrastructure projects and safety works, falling fully/partly in the State of Kerala is as under:- Period Outlay 2009-14 ₹ 372 crore/year 2025-26 ₹3,042 crore (more than 8 times) As on 01.04.2025, 06 projects (02 new line and 04 doubling) of 266 km length, costing ₹9,415crore falling fully/partly in Kerala are sanctioned. The

summary is as under:- …3/--3- Category No. of Total Length Balance Expenditure projects Length Commissioned to upto March complete 2025 (₹in Crore) 146 309 New line 02 0 km 146 km km Doubling 120 2,941 04 26 km 94 km /multitracking km 266 3,250 Total 06 26 km 240 km km Zonal Railway wise details of Railway projects are made available in public domain on Indian Railway’s website.

Details of some of the recently completed projects falling fully/partly in

Kerala are as under :

S. Cost Project N (₹ in Crores) 1 Dindigul-Pollachi-Palghat & Pollachi-Coimbatore 1,360 gauge conversion (217 km) 2 Quilon-Tirunelveli-Tiruchendur gauge conversion (357 1,122 km) 3 Mulanturutti-Kuruppantara doubling (24 km) 303 4 Chenganur-Chingavanam doubling (27 km) 436 5 Ambalapuzha-Haripad doubling (18 km) 346 6 Kurruppanthara-Chingavanam doubling (27 km) 749 Some of the other projects falling fully/partly in Kerala which have been

taken up are as under:

Cost S No. Project (₹ in Crores) 1 Tirunnavaya –Guruvayur new line (35 Km) 138 ...4/--4- 2 Angamali-Sabarimala new line (111 km) 3,801 3 Ernakulam-Kumbalam doubling (8 km) 595 4 Kumbalam-Thuravur Patch doubling (16 803 km) 5 Trivandrum- Kanyakumari doubling (87 km) 3,786 6 Shoranur - Vallathol doubling (10 km) 367 In last three years (i.e. 2022-2023, 2023-2024, 2024-25 and current financial year i.e. 2025-26), total 09 Nos. of Surveys (03 new line and 06 doubling) falling fully/partly in the State of Kerala having a total length of 1,124 km have been sanctioned and survey work has been taken up.

Execution of important infrastructure projects falling fully/partly in the State of Kerala are held up due to delay in land acquisition. Status of land

acquisition in the State of Kerala is as under:

Total Land required for Projects in Kerala 476 ha Land Acquired 65 ha (14%) Balance Land to be acquired 411 ha (86%) Railway had deposited ₹1,975 crore for land acquisition to Government of Kerala. Support of the Government of Kerala is needed to expedite the land acquisition. For instance, details of some major projects which are

delayed due to land acquisition are as under:- SN Name of the project Total Land Balance land acquired Land to required (in Ha) be (in Ha) acquired (in Ha)

1. Angamali - Sabarimala new line (111 416 24 392 km) ...5/--5-

2. Ernakulam – Kumbalam Patch 4 3 1 doubling (8 km)

3. Kumbalam – Turavur Patch doubling 10 9 1 (16 km)

4. Shoranur - Vallathol doubling (10 km) 5 0 5 Government of India is geared up to execute projects, however success depends upon the support of Government of Kerala.

Sanction of any railway project depend 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 ...6/--6-  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. *****