The Southern Railway has received an outlay of Rs 7,134.56 crore for the financial year 2022-23, in addition a total of Rs 1,064.34 crore received as Extra Budgetary Resource (EBR). Of the total outlay, Rs 1,445.85 crore has been earmarked for doubling projects, Rs 346.80 crore has been earmarked for gauge conversion projects and Rs 59 crore for new lines.
Further, an amount of Rs 327.77 crore has been allotted for passenger amenities for the year 2022-23, Southern Railway said. A sum of Rs 189.76 crore has been sanctioned towards various signal and telecom works in Southern Railway with thrust on proliferating indigenously manufactured 'Kavach' anti-collision devices across the network.
As regards the outlay for projects in Tamil Nadu, Southern Railway has said 25 new line/gauge conversion projects costing Rs 28,307 crore, over 3,077 kms length falling fully/partly in the state are under different stages of planning/execution. The Budget grant for Railways in Tamil Nadu is Rs 3,865 crore for the financial year 2022-23, which is 340% higher than the average outlay of 2009-2014.
Some of the important projects in Tamil Nadu featuring in Budget 2022-23 are:
> Rameswaram - Dhanushkodi (17.2 km) new line project has received an outlay of Rs 59 crore.
> The outlay for Madurai - Bodinayakanur doubling project is Rs 125 crore.
> The gauge conversion project between Tiruchchirappalli-Nagore-Karaikal with extension of Velankanni-Tiruturaipundi including new material modification of Karaikal-Peralam (23 km) new line is allotted Rs 121.80 crore.
> Funds to the tune of Rs 54.2 crore are allotted for the fourth Line between Chennai Beach to Chennai Egmore.
> For financial year 2022-23, funds to the tune of Rs 789 crore have been allotted through the Budget or the ongoing Rail Vikas Nigam Limited (RVNL) projects, including Rs 50 crore for construction of new Pamban Bridge.
> An amount of Rs 303.42 crore has been allotted for various railway electrification works in Tamil Nadu.
In Kerala, eight projects costing Rs.9,489 crore for 439 km length falling fully/partly in Kerala are under different stages of planning/approval/execution. The Budget grant for Railways in Kerala is Rs.1,085 crore for the financial year 2022-23 which is 192 per cent higher than the average outlay of 2009-2014.
Some of the important projects in Kerala featuring in the Budget 2022-23 are:
> Thiruvananthapuram-Kanniyakumari doubling project (86.56 km) has been allotted Rs 393.50 crore.
> Doubling of Kuruppanthara - Chingavanam (26.54 Km) has been allotted Rs 50.94 crore.
> An amount of Rs 100.66 crore has been allotted for various railway electrification works in Kerala.