Railways maintain Kerala authorities chargeable for delay in land acquisition

The Union Ministry of Railways has held the State authorities chargeable for the delay in finishing numerous rail growth tasks, citing the laxity in finishing the acquisition of the required land.

Responding to questions lately raised by M.Ok. Raghavan and Shafi Parambil, MPs, within the Lok Sabha, Union Minister of Railways Ashwini Vaishnaw mentioned the acquisition of round 85% of the land recognized for numerous tasks in Kerala was pending.

He mentioned the overall land requirement in Kerala was 476 hectares, however solely 73 hectares had been acquired to this point. The Railways had deposited ₹2,112 crore for the land acquisition course of in Kerala, however the help of the State authorities was wanted to expedite the method, he defined.

According to Mr. Vaishanaw, 5 tasks–Angamaly Sabarimala new line, Ernakulam-Kumbalam patch doubling, Kumbalam–Turavur patch doubling, Thiruvananthapuram-Kanyakumari doubling, and Shoranur-Vallathol doubling– have been delayed as a result of pending land acquisition works. He additionally launched the newest standing of the already acquired land and the pending necessities for the 5 tasks.  

The Minister identified that six tasks–two new strains and 4 doubling– of a complete size of 255 km costing ₹9,415 crore have been at numerous phases of implementation, out of which 26 km had already been commissioned. The complete expense was ₹3,250 crore as much as March 2025. 

Referring to the brand new tasks, Mr. Vaishnaw mentioned surveys had already been authorized for six tasks–Mangaluru-Shoranur third and 4th line, Shoranur-Coimbatore third and 4th line, Shoranur-Ernakulam third line, Ernakulam-Kayamkulam third line, Kayamkulam-Thiruvananthapuram third line and Thiruvananthapuram-Nagercoil third line passing by way of Kerala.

On questions associated to the launch of recent speedy companies, the Union Minister mentioned it might be accomplished solely after finding out operational feasibility and different traffic-related projections. “Four Namo Bharat Rapid Services are at the moment operational in India. Ten new prepare companies, together with 4 Vande Bharat companies, have been launched in Kerala from 2022 to 2025,” he added.