Railway Projects in Tamil Nadu Face Major Budget Cuts

21 Aug 2024 CW Team

The Rameswaram-Dhanushkodi new line project has received an allocation of Rs 560 million, despite not being mentioned in the interim budget. However, several other key railway projects in Tamil Nadu have faced significant budget cuts, raising concerns about their timely completion.

The long-delayed 184.45 km Tindivanam-Nagari new railway line, initially allocated Rs 3.5 billion in the interim budget, has seen its funds slashed to Rs 1.54 billion in the final allocation. Similarly, the Dharmapuri-Morappur (36 km) project, which had garnered much attention during its inauguration, has had its budget reduced from Rs 1.15 billion to Rs 493.7 million.

The Erode-Palani (91.5 km) new line project was allocated a mere Rs 1,000, a drastic reduction from the previously announced Rs 1 billion. In addition, the doubling works for the Katpadi-Villupuram (160 km), Salem-Karur-Dindigul (160 km), and Erode-Karur (65 km) lines, which each had an interim allocation of Rs 1.5 billion, have also been reduced to just Rs 1,000 each.

R. Pandiaraja, a member of the Zonal Rail Users Consultative Committee, criticized the union government's fund allocation, calling it a "scam." He highlighted the high cost of laying new railway lines with electrification, which requires Rs 150 million per km. For instance, the Madurai-Thoothukudi new line demands Rs 15 billion, but only Rs 180 million has been allocated this year, barely enough to lay 1 kilometer of track.

Pandiaraja urged the railways to disclose the percentage of land acquired for each project and allocate funds accordingly, suggesting that there seems to be little intention to complete these new line projects. This year, a total of Rs 63.62 billion was allocated for railway projects in Tamil Nadu, but the drastic cuts have cast doubt on the future of several critical developments.

Real Estate

31 Oct 2025

Birla Estates Tops Global GRESB 2025 Rankings

Birla Estates (BEPL), a wholly owned subsidiary of Aditya Birla Real Estate (formerly Century Textiles and Industries Limited), has been recognised as a Sector Leader in the 2025 GRESB Real Estate Assessment, securing top honours across multiple global and regional categories.Birla Estates’ Achievements in GRESB 2025:Global Sector Leader – ResidentialGlobal Sector Leader – Non-Listed ResidentialRegional Sector Leader – Asia – ResidentialRegional Sector Leader – Non-Listed – Asia – ResidentialThese distinctions reaffirm Birla Estates’ exceptional performance in Environmental, ..

Progota India Secures RDSO Clearance for Kavach 4.0

Concord Control Systems, one of India’s leading manufacturers of embedded electronic and critical system solutions, announced that its associate company, Progota India, has received Technical Prototype Clearance from the Research Designs and Standards Organisation (RDSO) for Kavach 4.0, the latest version of Indian Railways’ indigenous Automatic Train Protection (ATP) system.With this clearance, Progota has been formally approved to execute its ongoing trial order from South Central Railway, marking a key milestone in India’s railway modernization journey. The approval also establishes P..

MPS Interactive Systems Completes Full Acquisition of Liberate Group

MPS Interactive Systems (MPSi), a material subsidiary of MPS, has completed the acquisition of the remaining shareholding in the Liberate Group of Companies—comprising Liberate Learning, App-eLearn, and Liberate eLearning.With this transaction, MPSi now holds 100 per cent ownership of all entities within the Liberate Group, making them its wholly owned subsidiaries. The acquisition was executed in line with the valuation methodology defined in the original transaction documents.Commenting on the development, Rahul Arora, Chairman and CEO of MPS, said, “The corporate learning sector continu..