New Delhi, June 9 -- Indian Railways has approved the doubling of the 10.65-km Mararikulam-Alappuzha section in Kerala at a cost of Rs 220.51 crore to strengthen rail capacity and improve operations on the Southern Railway network.

The project forms part of Indian Railways' capacity augmentation programme covering doubling, tripling, quadrupling, flyovers and bypass works.

The Mararikulam-Alappuzha stretch is currently the only remaining single-line section on the Ernakulam-Alappuzha-Kayankulam corridor, where other doubling works have already been completed or are under implementation.

According to the Railways, the project is expected to enable the operation of nine additional passenger trains in each direction daily and support frei...