Railways revives long-pending Chennai-Cuddalore ECR project

CHENNAI: The Union government has revived the long-pending 179-km Chennai-Cuddalore railway line along the East Coast Road (ECR), saying the project, which was put on hold due to alignment issues near Puducherry, will now be taken forward in response to public demand and the need to support development in Tamil Nadu's coastal region.

Replying to an unstarred question raised by Congress MP R Sudha in the Lok Sabha on Wednesday, Union Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said that while Chennai and Kanniyakumari are already connected through the existing railway network via Vriddhachalam, Tiruchy, Madurai, Tirunelveli and Nagercoil, the Railways has initiated several projects to improve connectivity along the State's eastern coastline.

The Chennai-Cuddalore new line, proposed via Mahabalipuram, Marakkanam and Puducherry, is a sanctioned project. The ministry said the proposal had remained stalled because of alignment issues near Puducherry. However, considering public demand and the growing development requirements of the coastal belt, it has now decided to move the project forward.

The clarification came in response to a question on whether the Centre had received representations to establish an East Coast Railway corridor in Tamil Nadu on the lines of the Konkan Railway and whether any survey or policy decision had been taken in this regard.

The Railway Ministry also outlined the status of several other projects in the coastal region. It said land acquisition for the Nagapattinam-Tiruturaipundi new line is nearing completion, with major bridge and station works progressing. A survey has been sanctioned for preparing a Detailed Project Report (DPR) for the 565 km Villupuram-Nagercoil third and fourth line project, running via Ariyalur, Tiruchchirappalli, Madurai, Tirunelveli and Nagercoil. The project's final location survey was sanctioned this March.

The Ministry also sanctioned DPR surveys for the 193 km Villupuram-Thanjavur doubling and 113 km Manamadurai-Rameswaram doubling projects. Besides these, the DPR-prepared Thanjavur-Thiruvarur-Karaikal doubling and Gummidipundi-Gudur third and fourth line projects will be taken up for further approvals before sanctioning. The latest approvals are among 29 surveys, which include four for new lines, 25 for doubling, covering 3,517 km sanctioned in Tamil Nadu over the last three years and the current financial year.

Even as fresh surveys were cleared, the Centre said several sanctioned projects in Tamil Nadu remain on paper due to land acquisition delays. Among them is the Rs. 734cr Rameswaram-Dhanushkodi new line, whose foundation stone was laid on March 1, 2019. The Ministry said work has not commenced since the State government hasn't undertaken land acquisition, adding that the Centre is ready to execute the project once land is made available.

The reply flagged other delayed projects: the Tindivanam-Tiruvannamalai new line, where only 33 of the required 276 hectares has been acquired; the Attipattu-Puttur new line, where acquisition is yet to begin; the Morappur-Dharmapuri new line; and the Mannargudi-Pattukkottai and Thanjavur-Pattukkottai new line projects, where substantial land acquisition remains pending.