The Union Minister for Railways Ashwini Vaishnaw said his ministry has taken up a feasibility study to establish a new terminal at the Perambur railway station in Chennai.
Mr. Vaishnaw was replying to questions raised by the DMK MP Kanimozhi N.V.N. Somu in the Rajya Sabha. She asked whether the Central government had plans to establish a fourth railway terminal in Chennai and increase the number of train services to and from the city.
Mr. Vaishnaw said his ministry has made consistent efforts to increase the capacity of the railway network in Chennai by constructing new railway tracks, doubling or multitracking of existing sections, upgrading stations, constructing rail over-bridges (ROBs) and road under-bridges (RUB), and introducing modern coaches and train services.
As of April 1, 2022, 10 new lines, three gauge conversions, and nine doubling projects — covering 2,587 km, costing ₹33,467 crore, and falling fully or partly in Tamil Nadu — are in different stages of planning, sanctioning, or execution. Out of these, 665 km of rail has been commissioned and ₹7,153 crore has been spent as of March 2024, Mr. Vaishnaw said.
Since 2014, there has been a substantial increase in the allocation of funds for railway projects, he said.
“The execution of important infrastructure projects falling fully or partly in the State of Tamil Nadu is held up due to a delay in land acquisition, and only about 807 hectares of land has been acquired out of a total requirement of about 2,749 hectares. Railways had initiated efforts for land acquisition but could not succeed. The support of the Government of Tamil Nadu is needed to expedite this,” the Union Minister said.
As part of the ‘Amrit Bharat Station Scheme’, 77 stations, including three major railway terminals in the Chennai area, namely MGR Chennai Central, Chennai Egmore, and Tambaram stations, have been identified for modernisation in the State, Mr. Vaishnaw said.
