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Shashi Tharoor writes to Railway Minister over omission of Thiruvananthapuram from vision 2030 upgrades

On Friday, the Ministry of Railways announced the plan to double the capacity of major cities to originate new trains from existing levels over the next five years.

3 min readDec 27, 2025 08:49 PM IST

Tharoor is a Lok Sabha MP from Kerala's Thiruvananthapuram constituency. (Express Photo/File)

Congress leader Shashi Tharoor on Saturday wrote to Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw raising concerns over the omission of Thiruvananthapuram (TVC) from the list of 48 cities identified for infrastructure upgrades and capacity expansion under Vision 2030. In a post on X (formerly Twitter), the Lok Sabha MP from Kerala’s Thiruvananthapuram said the omission of a state capital and divisional headquarters from such a crucial initiative as a baffling administrative oversight.

Also Read | Indian Railways vision 2030: Originating train capacity to double in 48 major cities – Full list

He said considering the operational load at Thiruvananthapuram Central (TVC) and the need to develop Nemom and Kochuveli, the anomaly requires immediate correction.

“The city serves as the gateway to the southern tip of the subcontinent, anchoring a vital tourism corridor and a burgeoning IT hub. While I am pleased to see our sister city, Kochi, included in the list, the absence of the state capital — which manages the very division under which many of these trains operate – is an anomaly that requires immediate rectification,” Tharoor said.

The senior Congress leader also urged the Railway Minister to personally review the matter and ensure that Thiruvananthapuram is added to the list of selected cities.

Wrote to Railway Minister @AshwiniVaishnaw ji regarding the inexplicable omission of Thiruvananthapuram from the @RailMinIndia list of 48 cities slated for infrastructure upgrades & capacity doubling under Vision 2030.

To exclude a State Capital and a Divisional HQ from such a… pic.twitter.com/QGDfmZACGK

— Shashi Tharoor (@ShashiTharoor) December 27, 2025

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Indian Railways vision 2030

On Friday, the Ministry of Railways announced the plan to double the capacity of major cities to originate new trains from existing levels over the next five years. The national transporter said current infrastructure will also be augmented to meet the requirements of the coming years.

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In a release, the Ministry of Railways said while the plan is to double the capacity by 2030, it is expected to be increased progressively over the next five years so that the benefits of capacity addition can be reaped immediately.

“This will help in meeting the traffic requirement progressively over the years. The plan will classify actions under three categories, i.e., immediate, short-term, and long-term,” the railways said.

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