Foundation stone laid for doubling three railway lines in Tamil Nadu and Kerala

The Ministry of Railways (MoR) has laid the foundation stone for doubling three railway lines – the 86.56 km Thiruvananthapuram-Kanyakumari line, the 102 km Vanchi-Maniyachchi-Nagercoil line and the 160 km Madurai-Tuticorin line – at estimated costs of Rs 10.03 billion, Rs 11.82 billion and Rs 14.32 billion respectively. Work on the Thiruvananthapuram-Kanyakumari section has already commenced, along with bridge works on the 5.5 km Nagercoil-Kanyakumari stretch. Copco Engineering Private Limited was awarded the contract for constructing the bridges, while R.S. Developers Private Limited was awarded the contract for earthwork. The Thiruvananthapuram-Kanyakumari section is being implemented by Southern Railway while the other two projects are being undertaken by Rail Vikas Nigam Limited. The three projects are expected to be completed by March 2022.