Southern Railway plans to submit the Detailed Project Report for the proposed third railway line between Thiruvananthapuram and Kanyakumari by March 2027. The final location survey for the project has already been sanctioned, according to railway officials.

Doubling work on the existing Thiruvananthapuram-Kanyakumari section is also progressing, with around 60 per cent of the physical work completed. The railway has set a target of March 2029 for completing the doubling project, which covers Kerala and Tamil Nadu.

In a reply under the Right to Information Act to railway enthusiast Naveen Chander, Southern Railway said Rs. 14 bn had been allocated for the doubling work during 2026-27. The 86.56-km section was sanctioned for doubling in August 2017, and 32.63 km has been commissioned so far, while work continues on the remaining 53.93 km.

The doubling project is being executed in five phases. The 13.37-km Eraniel-Nagercoil Town section was commissioned in March 2026, following the opening of the 4.33-km Nagercoil Town-Nagercoil Junction and 14.93-km Nagercoil Junction-Kanniyakumari sections in March 2024.

The remaining work includes the 16.01-km Kulitturai-Eraniel stretch, scheduled for completion by December 2028, and several stretches between Thiruvananthapuram and Kulitturai. These include the 7.72-km Thiruvananthapuram-Nemam, 5.37-km Nemam-Balaramapuram, 4.01-km Balaramapuram-Neyyattinkara, 12.48-km Neyyattinkara-Parassala and 8.34-km Parassala-Kulitturai sections. Their targeted completion dates range from January 2027 to March 2029. The project requires 97.10 hectares of land, of which 85.55 hectares have been taken into possession. Nearly 88 per cent of the required land has been acquired, while around 38 per cent of the sanctioned rail-line length has been commissioned.