Madurai-Thoothukudi new line project not shelved, clarifies Railway Ministry

Days after Minister for Railways Ashwini Vaishnaw’s remarks on the fate of the Madurai-Thoothukudi new line project triggered a political row, the Union Railway Ministry on Wednesday (January 15, 2025) clarified that the project has not been shelved and there are no issues pertaining to land acquisition for the same.

Days after Minister for Railways Ashwini Vaishnaw’s remarks on the fate of the Madurai-Thoothukudi new line project triggered a political row, the Union Railway Ministry on Wednesday (January 15, 2025) clarified that the project has not been shelved and there are no issues pertaining to land acquisition for the same.

At the Integral Coach Factory in Chennai last week, the Minister, while responding to a query from a journalist on the status of the Madurai-Thoothukudi new line project via Arappukottai, claimed that it was shelved on the basis of a letter given by the Tamil Nadu government.

The issue snowballed into a controversy with the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) IT wing challenging the Minister in a post on social media about certain facts and demanding an apology from him. The party had shared a copy of the letter on the project sent by Chief Minister M.K. Stalin to Mr. Vaishnaw dated August 19 last year.

In the letter, Mr. Stalin, citing the normal budget allocation against the reduced regular budget allocation for new line and doubling projects, had mentioned the slow progress of the Madurai-Thoothukudi via Arappukottai new line, among seven new line projects. The letter highlighted the budget allocation for 12 doubling works, station work connecting the Kilambakkam bus terminus, and the various railway infrastructure works being executed in the city.

A press release issued by Southern Railway on Wednesday claimed since journalists were asking many questions simultaneously regarding the projects being executed in the State, and due to “background noise in the factory,” the Minister misheard it as ‘Dhanushkodi project’. Accordingly, the minister’s reply was regarding the Dhanushkodi line project., that the State government had written to the Railway Ministry that this project might be dropped due to land acquisition and environmental issues.

The mediapersons construed his above comments as though he was referring to the Madurai-Thoothukudi project, thus causing unintended confusion, the statement said. The Minister has clarified that in Madurai-Thoothukudi project, there is no land-related issues on the part of the State government.